Subj : Owner of liquidated Auckland restaurant ordered to pay chef nearly $10
To   : All
From : News
Date : Mon Apr 15 2024 12:15 pm

Shen Yuan, the former owner of Hua Restaurant which was liquidated in 2022,
has been ordered to pay a former chef nearly $100,000.


Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment (MBIE) said Yuan breached
multiple minimum employment standards at the former Auckland restaurant.


The Employment Relations Authority (ERA) has ordered him to pay: $43,943.42
in wages arrears, $21,000 as repayment for a premium demanded from him and
$20,000 in penalties.


A break down of the wage arrears is:


$29,990.93 for minimum wages
$10,248.13 for annual leave entitlements
$1971.86 as pay for work on public holidays
$1732.50 for alternative holidays for public holidays worked.
Yuan's wife Linlin Sun, who worked as a manager at the restaurant, "is
jointly and severally liable for payment of the wage arrears and was ordered
to pay $10,000 in penalties for her role in the breaches which occurred
between September 2019 and September 2020," MBIE said.


The couple have to pay interest on the arrears and Yuan must also pay
interest on the premium repayment.


The total amount the couple must pay in wages arrears, the repayment and
penalties is $94,943. The former chef, a Chinese national, must also receive
$9000 of the penalties.


It's second time Yuan and his former restaurant have been sanctioned by the
ERA.


In 2020 Yuan and BDIT Ltd, trading as Hua's Restaurant, were ordered to pay
their head chef $11,999.98 for outstanding wages. The repayment order was
made after Yuan failed to keep up the payments.


Yuan agreed to repay the former employee $16,000 in weekly instalments but he
only paid $4000, leaving $11,999 outstanding.


Authority member Robin Arthur said the chef was a visa-dependent worker which
made them vulnerable to exploitation.


"He also suffered extended periods where he did not receive the pay he was
entitled to receive."


Simon Humphries, head of Labour Inspectorate, said the case showed the owners
of a liquidated business could still be held liable for breaches committed
while it was still trading.


"Business owners and employers who have exploited vulnerable workers cannot
hide behind the fact that the business where breaches of minimum employment
standards were committed no longer exists. The Labour Inspectorate will
vigorously clamp down on those who exploit vulnerable workers, even if they
no longer own the business where the exploitation took place."

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