The Page Corner cafe in the Auckland suburb of Kingsland failed to pay two migrant employees minimum wage.

A popular Auckland cafe has been ordered to pay $30,000 for exploiting two of its staff.

The Page Corner Cafe in the upmarket suburb of Kingsland will pay the price after failing to offer minimum wage or holiday pay, the Employment Relations Authority has ruled.

It also failed to provide employment agreements and overlooked "wage, time, holiday and leave records," the ERA said.

The cafe has been ordered to pay $20,000 in penalties and $10,405 in unpaid wages to two migrant workers.

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The Page Corner Cafe is owned by Sherrie Lin, through a 100 per cent shareholding in Sherrie and Henry Limited.

It did not provide an employment agreement to its employees, pay them minimum wage, nor keep wage and time records.

They also failed to keep records of holiday leave, according to an investigation by Labour inspectors.

The cafe then refused to provide holiday pay after the two workers were dismissed, Labour Inspectorate regional manager David Milne said.

"One employee was left stressed after continually asking to be paid."

"The other recognised their employer assumed the exploitation would not be reported to the Inspectorate in order to protect their worker's visa."

Milne said migrant workers in restaurants, bars and cafes were "particularly vulnerable" to employers who didn't respect employment rights, with many migrant workers unaware of the obligations employers must follow.

"Not only do these employers breach the rights of their employees, they also gain an unfair advantage over the wider business community who are good employers and meet all their obligations.

"Employers must know this mistreatment will not be tolerated," Milne added.