A restaurant in Auckland has been ordered to pay $12,000 by the Employment Relations Authority for failing to pay wages and holiday pay.
The ERA handed down the penalty, after Beagle Brothers, trading as Genji Ponsonby, underpaid two migrant workers.
The Labour Inspectorate's northern regional manager David Milne, said it was not the first time it had had dealings with the owner of the business.
He said the penalty sent a clear signal that employers must pay their workers.
Prosecutions over migrant worker exploitation are only the tip of the iceberg, according to a union leader who says Christchurch employers are getting a bad reputation.
New Zealand has an estimated 600 people living in some sort of slavery, according to a report by campaign group Walk Free Foundation. It said India had 14.2 million in slavery.
The dairy industry is considering trying to persuade the government into making migrant work visas more flexible, Dairy NZ's annual conference heard.
The number of migrant workers complaining of illegal treatment in New Zealand workplaces has more than doubled in the past year, as more feel they can come forward.
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