An Indian cook who routinely clocked more than 70 hours a week has won nearly $240,000 after the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) found he was massively underpaid.

Amrit Pal Singh arrived in Auckland in September 2023 and began working later that month for Blue Moon Sky Ltd, which operated Titirangi Indian Kitchen and Ambrosia Bar and Restaurant in Beachlands.

Singh was employed on a work visa and was supposed to be paid $28 an hour for between 35 and 50 hours a week. Instead, Singh told the authority he worked from about 12.30pm to 11pm every day during the first months of his employment.

He said he found the hours excessive and asked for at least one day off a week, which was eventually granted after about two months.

Even after that, Singh said he continued working more than 70 hours a week. A spreadsheet he provided recorded 72.5 hours of work each week from September 2023 until November 2025, apart from four weeks of annual leave. The authority accepted his evidence about the hours, days and times he worked.

Singh was initially based at Titirangi Indian Kitchen, where he said he prepared food before the restaurant opened to the public. After returning from a trip to India in July 2025, he was moved to Ambrosia in Beachlands, where he said the employer’s brother would pick him up from his Titirangi accommodation at 8.15am and return him around midnight each day.

Despite those hours, bank records showed Singh received just $40,442.20 during his entire employment. The authority calculated he should have received $229,390 in wages and ordered the company to pay him $188,947.80 in arrears.

In an order on October 12, authority member Simon Greening noted there was no evidence Singh had been provided rest or meal breaks even though his working days exceeded eight hours.

Greening found the breach was intentional, noting Singh had complained that his hours were excessive before eventually being given one day off each week.

The company was also ordered to pay Singh $17,250 for 23 public holidays, $16,240 for outstanding annual leave, $9,000 for hurt and humiliation and $6,000 in penalties for breaches relating to breaks and good faith.

That took the amount payable by the company directly to Singh to $237,437.80, before interest.

The authority separately ordered sole director Dil Barala to pay a $4,000 penalty, half of it to Singh and half to the Crown, taking Singh’s total award to $239,437.80 before interest.

Greening found Barala knew, or ought to have known, the company was not paying Singh correctly or on time. As sole director, Barala controlled payroll and was in a position to ensure the company met its obligations.

The authority described Singh as a “vulnerable employee” whose employment was tied to a work visa.

It also found he had been unjustifiably dismissed after he began raising concerns in November 2025 about excessive hours, lack of breaks and unpaid or incorrectly paid wages.

By the end of that month, the company had stopped communicating with him and stopped offering him shifts without explanation or any formal process.

Blue Moon Sky Ltd and Barala did not file statements in reply to Singh’s claims. Barala briefly joined the Authority’s investigation meeting remotely but was no longer present after a morning tea adjournment and could not be contacted again.