A Bay of Plenty labour-hire company made two Indian workers pay $52,000 each for jobs in New Zealand, with some of the money collected in cash in India and Auckland, the Employment Relations Authority has found.

NZ Dream Contracting Limited, a Te Puke-based horticultural labour supplier, has now been ordered to repay the $104,000 after the authority found the payments were illegal premiums demanded in return for employment and support for accredited employer work visas.

The order provides an unusually detailed account of how the jobs were sold. Through family connections in India, large cash payments, WhatsApp calls and job offers that ultimately allowed the two men to obtain work visas.

In its ruling issued on August 17, Employment Relations Authority member Rachel Larmer found NZ Dream Contracting Limited had unlawfully required Kulvinder Singh and Jaskaran Singh to pay $52,000 each for their jobs.

Larmer described the company's sole director, Gurpreet Singh, as the "driving force behind the premiums" and ordered him to take the necessary steps to ensure the money is repaid. If the company cannot repay all of it, Gurpreet has been ordered to personally make up the shortfall.

A $52,000 job offer

NZ Dream Contracting Limited operates a horticultural labour-supply business serving kiwifruit orchards and became an accredited employer in February 2023. But discussions about Kulvinder's job had already begun.

The authority found Gurpreet told him during a video call that he would need to pay $52,000 for the employment. Kulvinder was offered a job as an "Area Manager". His Accredited Employer Work Visa was approved in May and he arrived in New Zealand the following month.

The Authority found Kulvinder ultimately paid the full $52,000. Some of it moved through bank transfers, but the largest component was about $32,000 in cash, which Kulvinder borrowed in India shortly before leaving for New Zealand.

Gurpreet's parents helped arrange the loan, the authority found. His father drove Kulvinder to collect the cash and was present while it was counted before taking him back to the family home, where the money was handed over.

Another worker, another $52,000

Jaskaran Singh was introduced to the company through one of Gurpreet's relatives in India in June 2023. He was told there was a job available on a New Zealand kiwifruit farm; and that if he wanted it, he would need to pay $52,000.

Jaskaran later spoke directly to Gurpreet over WhatsApp. According to the authority, Gurpreet explained how he could obtain a New Zealand visa with the company's support and confirmed the price for the job.

This time the $52,000 was paid in three instalments across two countries. The first $10,000 in cash was handed to Gurpreet at his Te Puke home. Another about $22,000 was paid to Gurpreet's father at his home in India.

Jaskaran's father discreetly filmed him taking and counting the cash. The final $20,000 in cash was collected personally by Gurpreet from Jaskaran's brother's workplace in Manukau, the authority found.

Jaskaran arrived in New Zealand on an AEWV in August 2023 as a machine operator and driver.

'To say Hi'

Gurpreet and his father denied asking for or receiving money in return for either man's employment. But the authority rejected their explanations.

Gurpreet claimed, for example, that when he travelled to Jaskaran's brother's workplace in Manukau, he had gone there simply "to say Hi to him".

The authority found it was more likely he had gone there to collect the $20,000 cash payment. His father also denied the money filmed being counted at his home in India was payment for a New Zealand job, saying it related to a proposed property purchase that did not proceed.

That explanation was also rejected. The Authority found the workers' accounts were supported by banking evidence, WhatsApp communications, voice messages, witnesses and the secretly recorded video.

It described Kulvinder and Jaskaran as "credible and reliable witnesses", while finding parts of Gurpreet and his father's evidence amounted to "blanket denials which did not make logical sense".

The company's 'hands and mind'

Gurpreet was not simply the company's director on paper. The authority ruled he was its sole director and shareholder, recruited the two workers, made the job offers, signed their employment agreements and controlled the job tokens that supported their visa applications.

Larmer described him as the "hands and mind" of NZ Dream. The authority found he had arranged for the company to seek and receive the payments and was the "driving force behind the premiums".

The authority also found NZ Dream Contracting Limited breached the Wages Protection Act by requiring the workers to pay for their employment.

What happened after they arrived

The ruling also records wider allegations about what happened after the two men reached New Zealand.

Kulvinder's employment ended in November 2023 after what the Authority records as a physical assault by Gurpreet. Jaskaran's employment ended two days later.

Both complained to the labour inspectorate that month, triggering an investigation that eventually led to the case before the authority.

Other alleged employment breaches were heard separately at an investigation meeting in Tauranga in June and are to be dealt with in another order.

$104,000 must be repaid

Larmer found NZ Dream Contracting Limited had received $52,000 from each worker in breach of employment law.

Gurpreet has been ordered, within 28 days of the order, to ensure his company pays the $104,000 to the labour inspectorate for the benefit of the two men.

If the company cannot repay some or all of it, any outstanding amount can be recovered from Gurpreet personally. The authority has also found additional penalties should be imposed on both Gurpreet and his company, with the amount still to be determined.