NZ says Pacific guest worker scheme working well
Updated
New Zealand's labour department says the Pacific guest worker scheme is working well overall, despite some problems.
The comment follows criticism from one New Zealand employer, who says the productivity of his Pacific workers is affected by cold winter weather and some have been abusing alcohol.
Garry Maxwell-Smith says he was originally told to give workers a weekly allowance, so they could take most of their pay back to their families.
He says later he was told to give workers all their pay, which he says many then spent, leaving no funds to take home.
Matthew Gibbs, from New Zealand's Department of Labour, says workers are entitled to their entire earnings, regardless of what they do with it.
"One thing is clear, is that the money remains that of the employee," he said.
"The employee must be able to at least access an account balance and eventually of course the money itself."
