South Island tour company Alps Travel has been ordered to pay $110,000 in employment law breaches.
The Employment Relations Authority (ERA) stung the company $75,000 in penalties and more than $35,000 in arrears after a Labour Inspectorate investigation found serious failings.
It comes after the general manager of the company’s Queenstown branch was recently found guilty of fraud at the Christchurch District Court, in relation to aiding and abetting an Alps driver to dishonestly use another driver’s licence in an attempt to show that he was correctly licensed.
“Employees were working very long hours while being paid a daily rate, regardless of how many hours they worked. This meant they were not being paid minimum wage, and they were also left without holiday pay,” Labour Inspectorate regional manager Jeanie Borsboom says.
The company also failed to keep accurate time, wage, holiday or leave records, and made unlawful deductions from their employees to discipline them for things like bus damage or negative customer feedback.
These are “all completely unacceptable under New Zealand employment law”, Borsboom says.
“Employers in this industry should note that log books will not fully meet their record keeping obligations, that they cannot contract out of providing employees with their entitlements, and that daily rates will not necessarily meet the minimum wage.”
Alps Travel has had its Transport Service Licence for both passenger and rental services revoked by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA).
