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Immigration Act 2009

Offences, penalties, and proceedings - Offences

350: Offences by employers

You could also call this:

“Employers can be penalised for knowingly allowing unauthorised work”

If you’re an employer, you’re not allowed to let someone work for you if you know they’re not allowed to do that work under the Immigration Act. This rule applies whether the person started working for you before or after this law came into effect.

If you’re accused of breaking this rule, the charge can mention any day the person was working for you. It doesn’t have to say when they first started working.

You’re considered to know that an employee isn’t allowed to do certain work if an immigration officer told you so in writing within the last 12 months.

However, you won’t get in trouble for letting someone keep working if you’re following the rules about giving notice when ending someone’s job. These rules are part of the Employment Relations Act 2000.

If someone accuses you of breaking this rule, they can say it happened on any day the person was working for you. They don’t have to say when the person started working.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM1441157.

Topics:
Immigration and citizenship > Visas
Work and jobs > Worker rights
Business > Industry rules
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349: Offences relating to carriers, and persons in charge, of craft, or

“Penalties for carriers and craft operators who break immigration rules”

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351: Exploitation of unlawful employees and temporary workers, or

“Unfair treatment of workers without proper work rights in New Zealand”

Part 10 Offences, penalties, and proceedings
Offences

350Offences by employers

  1. Every employer commits an offence against this Act who allows, or continues to allow, any person to work in that employer’s service, knowing that the person is not entitled under this Act to do that work.

  2. Subsection (1) applies whether the person commenced work in the employer’s service before or after the commencement of this section.

  3. Repealed

  4. Repealed

  5. A charge alleging an offence against this section may specify any day on which it is alleged the person was working for the employer, and need not state the day on which that work is alleged to have commenced.

  6. For the purposes of this section, an employer is treated as knowing that an employee is not entitled under this Act to do any particular work if, at any time in the preceding 12 months (whether before or after the commencement of this section), the employer has been informed of that fact in writing by an immigration officer.

  7. No employer is liable for an offence against this section in respect of any period during which the employer continues to allow any person to work in the employer's service in compliance with the minimum requirements of any employment agreement (within the meaning of the Employment Relations Act 2000) relating to the giving of notice on termination of employment.

Compare
Notes
  • Section 350(1): replaced, on , by section 6(1) of the Worker Protection (Migrant and Other Employees) Act 2023 (2023 No 36).
  • Section 350(2): amended, on , by section 6(2) of the Worker Protection (Migrant and Other Employees) Act 2023 (2023 No 36).
  • Section 350(3): repealed, on , by section 6(3) of the Worker Protection (Migrant and Other Employees) Act 2023 (2023 No 36).
  • Section 350(4): repealed, on , by section 6(3) of the Worker Protection (Migrant and Other Employees) Act 2023 (2023 No 36).
  • Section 350(5): amended, on , by section 413 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 (2011 No 81).