Builder pays penalty over employment agreement and payslip breaches
A project manager's sprawling complaint against a West Auckland homebuilder collapsed on almost every front, Member Simon Greening determined on 31 March 2026.
Jonny Lu joined Cornerstone International Group Limited, trading as Stonewood Homes West Auckland (CIGL), as a project manager on 4 June 2024, on a salary of $80,000 per annum. He resigned on 14 January 2025 and filed his statement of problem with the Employment Relations Authority on 13 April 2025, raising a stack of claims: no written employment agreement at the outset, unfair bargaining, missing payslips, incorrect sick and annual leave payments, an unlawful deduction from his final pay, a requirement to work 50 hours a week in breach of his 40-hour contract, and personal grievances for both unjustified disadvantage and constructive dismissal.
CIGL conceded it had not given Mr Lu a written agreement when he started. He began work on 4 June 2024 and did not receive a written agreement until 8 October 2024 — roughly four months later. Member Greening found this breached s 65 of the Employment Relations Act 2000 and ordered a $500 penalty. On the payslip question, CIGL also admitted it had not responded to Mr Lu's January 2025 request in a timely manner, supplying the documents only after he had lodged in the Authority. That drew a further $500 penalty under s 130. Both were modest: where there are no aggravating features or evidence of deliberate...
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