Dispute over hours worked leads to significant payment order
A retail supervisor has been awarded over $12,000 in unpaid wages after his employer failed to pay him for more than 400 hours.
The Employment Relations Authority (ERA) has awarded Jagdish Kumar Dhobi, a retail supervisor for the Wellsford Superette, a total of $12,245.24 after his employer, Expert Enterprise Limited (EEL), failed to adequately document his hours worked.
The ruling comes after Dhobi, originally from India, claimed at the ERA that he was not paid for over 500 hours of work, along with unpaid holiday pay.
Dhobi's claims of unpaid hours were initially supported by his mobile phone's travel records, which documented his journeys to and from work.
EEL acknowledged the unpaid wages but contested the number of hours claimed by Dhobi through a time record, which indicated that the retail supervisor had only worked 227 hours.
But the ERA sided with Dhobi in the case.
The ERA calculated slight adjustments to account for potential discrepancies in travel and work time, bringing Dhobi's unpaid work hours to 437.33.
It further determined that Dhobi's evidence was more credible and supported by his mobile phone records, which tracked his travel to and from work each day.
It also ruled that EEL's record did not meet the legal requirements under the Employment Relations Act and was not a proper wage record, particularly since it did not match the hours worked or align with the employment agreement.
"Mr. Dhobi's record of his hours worked is preferred to the time record provided by EEL. EEL's record is not a compliant wage, time, and holiday record," the ERA ruled.
As a result, the ERA ordered EEL to pay Dhobi $12,245.24 in wage arrears, as well as $979.62 in unpaid holiday pay.
