Vineyard staff miss wages

A Blenheim vineyard contractor was continually in trouble with Labour Department inspectors over record-keeping, an Employment Relations Authority (ERA) decision shows.

The authority ruled on a claim by labour inspector Douglas Hixon, of Nelson, that the company underpaid seven workers it employed to work in Marlborough vineyards by not paying the minimum wage.

The company's director, Tripta Tripta, of Blenheim, is the wife of Rajesh Luthra, who manages the company.

The ERA decision said the company or its associated entities had caused difficulties for the Labour Department.

"These difficulties have included matters such as failure to keep proper records of employment, failure to provide copies of such records to the labour inspectorate, failure to deal with the labour inspectorate in a timely fashion and an unwillingness to abide by the requirements of New Zealand law," it said.

Before the ERA, Luthra had represented the company and had been helpful and co-operative, authority member James Crichton said.

All the claims were caused by a difference in the records kept by New Zealand Vines and those kept by the employees, he said.

In claims for six of the seven workers, Crichton preferred the figures supplied by the workers and ordered New Zealand Vines to pay about $2000 in underpaid wages. The company's record-keeping was "frankly unsatisfactory", he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News