Four S’porean Women Who Went To New Zealand On A Working Holiday Exploited By NZ Boss

Many of us try to view our jobs as more of a passion or something we love because it gives us meaning in life.

Unfortunately, life isn’t free and couldn’t give two tarantula shits about what your ‘passion’ is.

This is why all of us go to work on the same, simple but significant basis – that we will get paid for our work.

And if we don’t, we’ll make sure our bosses pay for it.

Four S’porean Women Who Went To New Zealand On A Working Holiday Exploited By NZ Boss

If you’re not familiar with what a “working holiday” is, you basically, well, work while on holiday.

Reader: Gee thanks

According to InterExchange, a working holiday allows someone to visit a country for longer than the average tourist, with the opportunity to take on short-term jobs to save money or at least help fund the trip.

That sounds perfect, right? You could go abroad and work for a few hours here and there to fund your stay.

But that wasn’t how it turned out for four Singaporean women.

In 2017, they went for a working holiday in New Zealand, where they were hired to prune kiwifruit at an orchard in Pukehina for five days.

But they were never paid for their work. And more than two years later, they are still owed NZ$535 (S$476) each.

This was even after New Zealand’s Employment Relations Authority (ERA) ordered the man who employed Ms Amy Lim Pui Yee, Ms Aw Qiyin, Ms Gwendaline Ang Hui Fen and Ms Poh Toon Ling to pay them last August.

The offender, Gautam Rajan Kapur, was also ordered last month to pay NZ$18,000 in penalties for multiple employment breaches, of which NZ$12,000 will go to the four women.

So, what happened?

Quit her job

One of the victims, Ms Lim, said she had quit her job to go on the working holiday and decided to travel with the other three women.

This was their first job after arriving in New Zealand.

After seeing an online advertisement, the four women met up with Kapur on 19 Sept 2017, to discuss the job and pay.

They came to an agreement to start working the next day at the Pukehina orchard, but when they asked for a written agreement, Kapur gave them blank employment agreement templates, telling them to write “Sunrise Hort” as their employer, without explaining how he was connected to it.

Kapur then claimed that he wasn’t even the boss and that he was merely an employee at Sunrise Hort.

But he had actually coerced another man, an illegal immigrant, into setting up the entity.

While the owner of Joba Orchard, the company that operates the Pukehina orchard, was acquainted with Kapur, he had never heard of Sunrise Hort.

So, in trying to avoid paying NZ$535, the man set up a fake company and tried to evade the authorities but now he has to pay NZ$18,000? 

Said payment was “delayed”

Ms Lim said the four women lodged a complaint because Kapur kept making excuses for not paying them.

Speaking to The New Paper, she said: “He would say the payment would be delayed and there would be deductions because the job was not done well. But it had nothing to do with us. He was making all sorts of excuses.”

She added that they also complained because they didn’t want the same thing to happen to others.

“I think some take it for granted that people on working holidays are there temporarily so they won’t make an effort to make a complaint”.

Labour Inspectorate regional manager Natalie Gardiner said that Kapur had not only taken advantage of these four women but damaged the country’s name.

“The employees were young and vulnerable. It was their first time in New Zealand, and Mr Kapur’s actions not only undermined the workers’ rights, but also New Zealand’s international reputation”, she said.

According to TNP, every year, up to 200 Singaporeans between the ages of 18 and 30 can apply for a working holiday visa to work and stay in New Zealand for six months.

But how many are going to sign up for this programme after what happened?