New Zealand: Former Christchurch Motel Owner Jian Li Sentenced to 7.5 Months' Home Detention for Exploiting Four Migrant Workers Paid for 40 Hours While Working Up to 98
Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand — Immigration New Zealand (INZ) said on October 28 that the former owner of a Christchurch motel has been sentenced to seven and a half months' home detention for exploiting four migrant workers.
Jian Li, former owner and operator of Fei Huang Teng Da Ltd, which traded as 315 Motel Riccarton in the Riccarton area of Christchurch, was sentenced in the Christchurch District Court on October 28 after pleading guilty to seven migrant exploitation charges under the Immigration Act 2009.
The offending involved four migrant workers employed as motel managers between February 2017 and December 2021. They were required to live on-site and effectively run the motel operation, including staffing reception from 7:30 a.m. until 9:30 p.m. every day of the week.
Despite working between 84 and 98 hours each week, they were generally paid for only 40 hours. The investigation found the workers were denied minimum wage and Holidays Act entitlements, including annual holidays and time-and-a-half for working on public holidays.
Li's counsel submitted that the sentence should be community detention, but this was declined given the seriousness of the offending. Fei Huang Teng Da Ltd had earlier been sentenced on May 29, 2026, after also pleading guilty to seven migrant exploitation charges, and was ordered to pay NZ$115,077.26 in reparations, which has since been paid to the four workers. Three of the workers remain in New Zealand on valid work visas, while the fourth has left the country.
INZ Investigations National Manager Jason Perry said the workers were not just working the occasional long day but were essentially running the motel from morning until night, seven days a week, while being paid for only a fraction of the hours they worked. "That's simply not acceptable. No one should be expected to work those kinds of hours without being paid properly," he said, adding that the case showed employers who take advantage of workers who rely on them for both their job and their right to stay in New Zealand will be punished, and that migrant workers have the same workplace rights as anyone else in New Zealand.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：新西兰基督城地方法院所在的基督城司法与应急服务大楼。Bernard Spragg 摄，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / The Christchurch Justice and Emergency Services Precinct, home to the Christchurch District Court, New Zealand. Photo by Bernard Spragg, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
