How WhatsApp evidence sank a company's volunteering defence over wage arrears
Employment Relations Authority member Nicola Craig ruled on 14 September 2026 that a migrant father and son were owed more than $120,000 combined.
The father first worked for the company's director in India, at the director's printing business, from 1996 until 2003, when the director migrated to New Zealand. Two decades later, in 2023, the pair discussed a plan for the son, then around 18, to move to New Zealand for work, with his father to follow later. The director agreed to support them through the accredited employer visa pathway so they could clean at the early childhood centres his company ran across the Waikato.
Both were paid for 30 hours a week, the figure recorded on timesheets they had signed. But the son and his father told the Authority they regularly worked far longer days, sometimes reaching 12 to 14 hours, cleaning centres in the evening and carrying out gardening, water blasting and other outdoor work during the day. The company maintained that anything beyond the paid hours was undertaken voluntarily, partly to help the business and partly so the pair could pick up new skills.
That explanation did not hold up under the weight of the evidence. The Authority pointed to extensive WhatsApp messages from the company's general manager and a supervisor directing the men to specific centres and tasks throughout the day, often well before the evening cleaning shift began. On one occasion...
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