An Auckland labour-hire director has been held personally liable for employment breaches affecting three Vietnamese migrant workers, including unlawful job payments made before two...
An Auckland labour-hire director has been held personally liable for employment breaches affecting three Vietnamese migrant workers, including unlawful job payments made before two of them arrived in New Zealand.
By Webfit News | 5 November 2026
Two migrant workers each paid $30,000 in Vietnam to secure jobs in New Zealand. Their employer subsequently failed to meet minimum employment standards, and the company later went into liquidation.
Now, its former director has been ordered to personally pay more than $203,000 in repayments and penalties.
The Employment Relations Authority found Huy Quang Tran, sole director of High-End Renov Group Limited, was personally involved in breaches affecting three Vietnamese migrant workers, according to a media release issued by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment on Thursday.
The breaches included minimum wage and holiday pay failures, inadequate employment records and unlawful payments demanded in exchange for jobs.
A central dispute concerned $60,000 paid by two workers before they travelled to New Zealand.
The Authority found each worker paid $30,000 to obtain employment with High-End Renov Group. The jobs were linked to the Accredited Employer Work Visa scheme.
Tran argued that the payments were repayments of personal loans. The Authority rejected that explanation, finding the money had been paid to secure employment.
It ordered the unlawful employment premiums to be repaid.
The payments being made in Vietnam did not put them beyond the reach of New Zealand employment law: they related to jobs in this country.
ERA Member Robert Davies ordered payments totalling $203,469.89, excluding interest and costs.
| Component | Amount |
|---|---|
| Wage arrears, holiday pay and repayment of unlawful employment premiums to three workers | $132,291.14 |
| Penalties for the director’s involvement in the breaches | $71,178.75 |
| Total ordered | $203,469.89 |
Of the penalties, $18,000 will be allocated to the workers, with each receiving $6,000. The remaining $53,178.75 is payable to the Crown.
Together, the repayments and workers’ share of the penalties amount to $150,291.14 ordered for the three former employees. The release does not state that these amounts have already been paid.
High-End Renov Group supplied painters and plasterers to construction sites in Auckland and Christchurch. It recruited workers from Vietnam.
The company entered liquidation in March 2025 and has since been removed from the Companies Register.
The Authority nevertheless found Tran personally liable because of his involvement in the employment breaches.
“I am satisfied that Mr Tran was actively involved in HERG’s breaches and had knowledge of the essential facts constituting them,” Davies said.
He described the breaches as serious, saying they affected fundamental protections for migrant employees.
“The premiums are especially serious because the sums were substantial and the payments were connected to the prospect of employment in New Zealand.”
MBIE said the decision follows an Employment Court ruling in October confirming that payments made overseas to secure employment in New Zealand are prohibited.
The ministry said the Wages Protection Act 1983 prohibits charging workers a fee for a job. The October judgment clarified its application to employment premiums paid offshore.
For people seeking work in New Zealand, the distinction is significant: paying for a New Zealand job overseas does not make the payment lawful.
Acting Head of the Labour Inspectorate Jeanie Borsboom said the decision demonstrated that company directors could be held personally accountable for their involvement in employment breaches.
“Employment standards are minimum legal requirements and all workers in New Zealand, including migrant workers, are entitled to them.”
She said inadequate systems and poor record keeping did not excuse employers from meeting their obligations.
“The Labour Inspectorate will continue to investigate allegations of worker exploitation and take enforcement action where employers seek to profit at the expense of vulnerable workers.”
MBIE encourages anyone who believes they, or someone else, has been treated unfairly at work to contact 0800 20 90 20.
The ministry says concerns will be handled in a safe environment.
Source: MBIE media release, 5 November 2026.
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