{"id":643639,"date":"2026-10-28T09:16:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T09:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/643639\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T09:16:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T09:16:11","slug":"christchurch-motel-owner-jian-li-sentenced-to-home-detention-for-migrant-exploitation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/643639\/","title":{"rendered":"Christchurch motel owner Jian Li sentenced to home detention for migrant exploitation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"VFgYVkWVN\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cThey 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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VFgYVkWVN\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cThat\u2019s simply not acceptable. No one should be expected to work those kinds of hours without being paid properly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"VFgYVkWVN\" style=\"display:none\">The workers were required to live on-site and run the motel operation, including staffing reception from 7.30am to 9.30pm daily.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VFgYVkWVN\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cDespite working between 84 and 98 hours each week, they were generally paid for only 40 hours.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"VFgYVkWVN\" style=\"display:none\">The workers, three of whom remain in New Zealand on valid work visas and a fourth who has left the country, were also denied minimum wage and Holidays Act entitlements, including annual holidays and time-and-a-half for working on public holidays.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VFgYVkWVN\" style=\"display:none\">A request by Li\u2019s lawyer for community detention, instead of home detention, was rejected because of the \u201cseriousness of the offending\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Law protects \u2018all workers\u2019 <\/p>\n<p class=\"VFgYVkWVN\" style=\"display:none\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/business\/thames-four-square-hit-with-penalty-after-making-two-migrant-workers-pay-120k-to-secure-jobs\/XGLTMCZPRNDTVM7FCALZEET7TA\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/business\/thames-four-square-hit-with-penalty-after-making-two-migrant-workers-pay-120k-to-secure-jobs\/XGLTMCZPRNDTVM7FCALZEET7TA\/\">Migrant workers<\/a> had the same workplace rights as anyone else in New Zealand, and breaches harmed workers and disadvantaged honest businesses, Perry said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VFgYVkWVN\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cEmployers shouldn\u2019t be able to gain a financial advantage by cutting corners and exploiting their staff \u2026 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"VFgYVkWVN\" style=\"display:none\">Reparations were important but didn\u2019t undo the impact on the victims, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"VFgYVkWVN\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cThey spent years working excessive hours without receiving their full pay and entitlements.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"VFgYVkWVN\" style=\"display:none\">Anyone experiencing or aware of migrant exploitation should report it, Perry said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"VFgYVkWVN\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cAll workers in New Zealand, regardless of where they are from or what visa they hold, are entitled to the minimum rights and protections provided under New Zealand law.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThey were essentially running the motel from morning until night, seven days a week, while being paid for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":643640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3043,1121,4487,5981,20556,2245,8532,6286,2082,71,1345,11551,315547,4507,138710,3429,1304,4274,111,43,139,2551,69,2847,2738,10142,5763,5161,1516,8475,61,698,686,3608,87539,12767],"class_list":["post-643639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-call","tag-case","tag-christchurch","tag-daily","tag-detention","tag-early","tag-ended","tag-exploitation","tag-for","tag-from","tag-home","tag-hours","tag-jian","tag-late","tag-li","tag-migrant","tag-morning","tag-motel","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-night","tag-nz","tag-only","tag-owner","tag-paid","tag-sentence","tag-sentenced","tag-staff","tag-thats","tag-to","tag-until","tag-week","tag-were","tag-worked","tag-worker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}