Underpayment, unauthorised deductions and a racialised remark all featured in the ruling
Coatrite Fire Limited unjustifiably dismissed a migrant spray painter and underpaid him for months, Authority member Marija Urlich found on 14 July 2026.
The worker moved to New Zealand on an accredited employer work visa and started as an industrial and intumescent spray painter for Coatrite in January 2023. His written employment agreement set his pay at $38 an hour. He was dismissed in May 2024 and raised personal grievances for unjustified disadvantage and unjustified dismissal.
Coatrite accepted the painter had been paid $35 an hour rather than the agreed $38, leaving wage arrears of $7,790.40. It said the rate had been loaded into payroll incorrectly and was not raised until the worker's father queried it in May 2024. The company also accepted it had not told him in writing before deducting a series of sums from his pay, recorded as company expenses, fines and equipment costs. Urlich found the underpayment and $968 in deductions were unlawful and had undermined his confidence in his employer.
The painter also said the managing director made demeaning racialised comments about his upkeep of the work vehicle. The managing director strenuously denied making them, though he accepted he may have used the language attributed to him and said he never intended to offend. Urlich found it more likely than not that a racialised comment was made, and that it caused the worker unjustified...
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