"Employee" not "contractor" leads to $15,000 penalties...

The Employment Relations Authority has found that a worker was an employee and not an independent contractor as claimed by the employer.

As the employer claimed the person was not an employee they also claimed they did not have to provide an employment agreement and did not have to record hours worked, wages paid or holiday pay earned.

This all came back to bite them when the ERA held the worker was an employee because the employer had failed to comply with its obligations to provide the employee with a written employment agreement and to provide a copy to the Labour Inspector.  They also failed to provide the required wage and time records.  The ERA fined the employer $15,000.  $5,000 of this is to go to the employee to cover unpaid holiday pay.

Alan Knowsley

Employment Lawyer Wellington