A Sunday service at Arise Church Photo: Supplied
Fallout at Pentecostal church Arise is continuing with multiple board members barred from recruiting migrant workers.
The board was issued with an infringement notice by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) Labour Inspectorate in January relating to a request to supply information of specific employee records.
Seven trustees have temporarily been stood down from their ability to recruit migrant workers.
This includes senior pastor Ben Kendrew, along with board members John Robertson, Joseph Bundy-Cooke, Alistair Papali'i-Curtin, Anna Pasikale, Alice Camaivuna and Kylie Fletcher.
An MBIE spokesperson said the infringement notice was issued to Arise for failing to keep proper wages, time, holiday, and leave records.
"The issuing of the infringement notice automatically triggered inclusion of Arise Church as an employer on Immigration New Zealand's stand-down list."
It said employers who breached employment standards faced a set stand-down period from the ability to support visa applications for migrant workers.
The stand down period ends on 16 July.
Arise did not respond to request by RNZ for comment but it did post a statement to its website.
"The board has now been able to provide the requested information which relates to pay, leave and holidays that were recorded correctly for the sample of employees that was requested."
It said the board had requested the removal of the infringement notice accordingly and had been informed by the Labour Inspector that the infringement notice was subsequently under review.
"Any suggestion that the board or leadership has been stood down from governance or leadership is incorrect. Members are temporarily unable to recruit migrant workers whilst the notice is being reviewed."
The statement said the church was confident this matter would be resolved promptly.
