Chang-Wei Tsao aka David Tsao, the former Kaiapoi Domino’s Pizza Franchise owner was sentenced to 10 months Home Detention and ordered to pay reparations after pleading guilty of six charges relating to migrant exploitation.

MBIE’s General Manager Immigration Investigations and Compliance, Steve Watson, says Mr Tsao’s sentence is the result of an investigation by the Immigration Compliance team after a complaint was received about a Domino’s Kaiapoi employee who had been working in breach of their visa conditions.

Investigators found the employee had been working beyond their visa expiry date but discovered that Mr Tsao had coerced the worker to do so. He was also found to have compelled three student visa holders to work beyond the 20 hours per week they were entitled to while studying.

In addition, Mr Tsao was found to have committed serious exploitation of another employee relating to underpayment of wages and leave, and requiring the employee to pay unlawful premiums, with a combined value of NZ$7,061.98.

Mr Watson says today’s sentence sends a strong message that breaching the law and exploiting migrant workers will not be tolerated and anyone doing so will be held to account.

“I’m incredibly proud of the hard work by our investigators in this case and the empathetic approach they took when dealing with these vulnerable migrants who had been deliberately taken advantage of by their employer,” he says.

“We take all complaints of migrant exploitation very seriously and any migrant who thinks they are being exploited should contact MBIE on 0800 20 00 88 or via our reporting migrant exploitation webpage.”

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