“He paid $16k for a job in NZ. When he arrived, there was just a mattress on the floor”
When Joseph Duran boarded a plane to Auckland in July 2023, he believed he was stepping into a stable job, a fresh start and a way to provide for his three children in the Philippines…
…he found himself sleeping on the floor of a crowded house, earning as little as $200 a fortnight, and fielding threatening messages from lenders back home.
To get to New Zealand, Duran said he paid 550,000 Philippine peso (PHP) – about $16,000 – in “placement fees” to a recruiter, after hearing from his brother’s former co-workers that traffic control jobs were available…
…His employment agreement, which Stuff has seen, listed a wage of at least $30 an hour as a hammerhand – a construction worker who supports skilled tradies – in Auckland. But he said the employer instead sent him to demolition sites to remove asbestos – for $24 an hour – just over minimum wage at the time…
Work was also unpredictable. Some weeks he would get a one-day shift, sometimes more…
Duran was eventually granted an exploitation visa in February this year. His former employer was later sentenced to seven months home detention and ordered to pay $25,000 in reparations…
…He said he is still owed unpaid wages from the former employer, which later entered liquidation…