Antares Restaurant Group, the parent company which owns and operates Burger King in New Zealand, has been banned from hiring migrant workers for a year.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) put the company on its stand-down list for breaching the Minimum Wage Act. It is now banned from getting new visas for migrant workers until July 17 next year.
Unite Union welcomed the ban, saying it came after the fast food giant failed to pay a salaried manager the minimum wage.
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Earlier in the year Burger King was ordered to pay an Auckland woman $3500 after being found to have breached the Minimum Wage Act by the Employment Relations Authority (ERA).
The ERA found Burger King failed to pay Drew Desai minimum wage on three occasions during her employment as a trainee manager with a salary of $37,500.
Desai was employed at Burger King from March 27, 2015 to October 6, 2017 where she worked in their New Lynn restaurant until she resigned.
In statements provided to the authority, Desai claimed that in the fortnights ending May 25, 2017, June 11, 2017 and July 9, 2017 she worked hours over and above her contracted hours of 90 per fortnight.
Because her salary was so close to the minimum wage all three fortnights brought her below the minimum wage for the hours she worked.
Salaried workers on over $41,000 per year would be paid less than the minimum wage if they worked just one extra eight hour shift.