Ten migrant nurses worked at least 1,500 hours without pay after a New Zealand aged-care provider engaged them as “volunteers” while they waited for employer-backed visas allowing them to work.

The nurses had already been offered jobs as registered nurses by Experion Care NZ Ltd, but worked ordinary shifts without pay while waiting for the company’s assistance to secure the appropriate visas.

Experion operates aged-care facilities at six locations, caring for about 160 residents and employing about 150 people, according to the determination.

Companies Office lists Aviral Garg as a director of Experion since the company was incorporated in March 2015, including through the period covered by the case.

Between October 2023 and September 2025, the 10 nurses worked 193 unpaid ordinary shifts totalling more than 1,500 hours. They also worked another 47 unpaid hours on public holidays.

Experion has now agreed to pay $51,925.45 in gross wage and holiday-pay arrears, plus interest, after a Labour Inspector found the nurses should have been treated as employees from their first “volunteer” shifts.

The nurses were Suman Lata, Anisha Ushakumari, Sharmaine Magbanua, Jesteena George, Arlin Monisha, Elizabeth Michael, Feba Ponnachan, Lincy Lawrence, Teena George and Lanie Juntilla.

The arrangement was detailed in an Employment Relations Authority (ERA) determination issued on October 5 by ERA member Sarah Kennedy-Martin.

The Labour Inspector argued describing the nurses as volunteers did not reflect the reality of their work. They were carrying out work as registered nurses for Experion and were, therefore, employees entitled to minimum employment standards.

Experion ultimately accepted the nurses became employees when they began their first volunteer shifts and that wages were owed for the work they had performed.

Six of the nurses had left Experion by the time of the proceedings. Their holiday pay had also been incorrectly calculated because the periods in which they had worked unpaid as volunteers were not included in their entitlements.

Despite the scale of the unpaid work, the Labour Inspector and Experion agreed the case was not one of deliberate malice. “This is not a case of intentional migrant exploitation,” the agreed statement recorded.

Garg was named personally as the second respondent alongside the company, although the Labour Inspector agreed to withdraw the claim against him once the arrears owed to the nurses are paid in full.