"Tokoroa Turkish kebab and pizza shop owner admits ripping off migrant staff,"

A Tokoroa kebab and pizza shop owner grossly underpaid migrant workers doing 66-hour weeks then made them pay back part of their salaries claiming he could no longer afford them.

Ercan Ates and his business Ates Trading Limited, which operates Turkish Kebabs and Pizza Express on Swanston St in Tokoroa have pleaded guilty in the Rotorua District Court to 18 charges relating to exploiting workers.

The three workers are collectively owed about $160,000 due to breaches of the Holidays Act, Minimum Wage Act and Wage Protection Act.

Court documents released to the Rotorua Daily Post said Ates was in charge of the day-to-day restaurant operations including hiring, rostering and paying employees. He carried out all offending of Ates Trading Ltd...

They were only paid the approximate hours in their contracts, which meant they were paid less than the minimum wage for the hours they actually worked.

They were owed thousands in unpaid hours worked, holiday pay, public holiday pay and for unnecessarily repaying Ates...

Ates and his company will be sentenced on February 17 next year.