Up to 98-hour weeks, paid for 40: Christchurch motel owner sentenced for exploiting migrant workers

A Christchurch motel owner who forced migrant workers to be on call from early morning until late at night, 7 days a week, while paying them for only a fraction of the hours worked, has been sentenced for migrant exploitation offences.

Jian Li, owner and operator of Fei Huang Teng Da Ltd, trading as 315 Motel Riccarton, was sentenced in the Christchurch District Court today (28 October 2026) after pleading guilty to 7 migrant exploitation charges under the Immigration Act 2009, following an Immigration New Zealand (INZ) investigation.

Li was sentenced to 7 and a half months’ home detention. His 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 29 May 2026, while Li was out of the country, after pleading guilty to 7 migrant exploitation charges. The company was ordered to pay $115,077.26 in reparations.

The offending involved 4 migrant workers employed as motel managers between February 2017 and December 2021. Three of the workers are still in New Zealand on valid work visas, while the fourth has left the country.

The workers were required to live on-site and effectively run the motel operation, including staffing reception from 7.30am until 9.30pm 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. INZ Investigations National Manager Jason Perry said the case showed that 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.

"These workers weren't just working the occasional long day. They were essentially running the motel from morning until night, 7 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."

Mr Perry said migrant workers have the same workplace rights as anyone else in New Zealand.