The former owner of the Kaiapoi Domino’s Pizza franchise has pleaded guilty to six charges, including one related to migrant exploitation.

Chang-Wei Tsao, also known as David Tsao, was sentenced to 10 months home detention and ordered to pay reparations.

Steve Watson, General Manager of Immigration Investigations and Compliance at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), said Tsao’s sentence resulted from an investigation by the Immigration Compliance team following a complaint about a Domino’s Kaiapoi employee working in breach of their visa conditions.

Investigators found that the employee had been working beyond their visa expiry date under coercion from Tsao. Tsao was also found to have compelled three student visa holders to work beyond the 20 hours per week they were permitted while studying.

Additionally, Tsao committed serious exploitation of another employee by underpaying wages and leave and requiring the employee to pay unlawful premiums, amounting to a combined total of NZD$7,061.98.

Watson said the sentence sends a strong message that breaching the law and exploiting migrant workers would not be tolerated, and violators would be held accountable.

“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 said.

“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.”