Charles Cameron says a third-party audit by industry bodies was a better way to ensure employers are complying.

A legal advocate says a standdown list naming and shaming employers that have breached minimum standards of the employment law will not be enough to solve work exploitation.

Since April, over 150 employers that breached their minimum employment standards have been put onto the standdown list, according to the Labour Inspectorate.

Workers' advocate Nathan Santesso said a stronger deterrent could be making certain types of exploitation a criminal offence.

SUPPLIED Labour Inspectorate national manager Stu Lumsden is pleased with the effect the standdown list is having as a deterrent.

"There are a lot of issues at play here but a big one of them is that this is a type of white collar crime that's not treated as a crime," Santesso said.

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"You don't see the police going and arresting these people. It's a very low risk and high reward crime."

SUPPLIED Hospitality NZ's Rachael Shadbolt says often businesses that fail to comply are SMEs that were not aware they were in the wrong.

Bella*, one of Santesso's clients, works for a large retail clothing chain to fund her budding photography career.

She has not been paid for about 20 hours of overtime, and the 22-year-old's employer has also breached her holiday and annual leave entitlements, Santesso said.

But Bella's story is not an anomaly.

SUPPLIED Legal advocate Nathan Santesso says the standdown list brought attention to the problem but would not solve employment exploitation alone.

Recently the Labour Inspectorate issued out a warning for other employers to provide correct entitlements to staff during the Christmas period, after an Auckland restaurant failed to pay 10 employees their entitlements and was fined $22,000 by the Employment Relations Authority (ERA).

In some other cases, migrant employees have had to worked under bonded labour or without employment contracts.

Earlier this year an ERA decision showed an exploited Chinese New Zealand newspaper worker was asked to pay a $50,000 premium in return for a job.

The Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) said the heftiest fine ordered to be paid by an employer on the list as of November 27 was $78,000.

The fine was issued to restaurant employer NZ C&J which failed to pay correct wages and holiday pay to 70 employees, most of whom were migrants.

The standdown list was introduced in April by the Labour Inspectorate and Immigration New Zealand working together to hold employers to account.

Employers on the standdown are not able to sponsor new visas to recruit migrant labour for a period between six months and two years.

Employers who breach minimum employment standards may have failed to provide their employee with at least the minimum wage, holiday pay, an employment agreement, or keep records of employment as legally required.

An infringement notice will result in fines of $1,000 per breach up to $20,000 in any three month period.

But labour Inspectorate national manager Stu Lumsden said he was satisfied with the effect the standdown list was having as a deterrent.

Lumsden said the Labour Inspectorate had received fines totalling about $965,000.

"It should be clear to employers from the standdown list that access to migrant labour is a privilege not a right, and if you fail to meet the bare minimum standards required to be an employer in New Zealand you will lose this access."

Hospitality employers tend to frequent the list, but Hospitality New Zealand spokeswoman Rachael Shadbolt said food and accommodation businesses were often small businesses.

"Sometimes it's not a case of deliberately not complying. It can be just a case of not knowing.

"We spend a lot of our time making sure our clients have all the finer details whether that's Easter trading or staff entitlements for holiday pay. It's really complex for them to get their heads around."

Labour on hire industry body Recruitment, Consulting and Staffing Association (RCSA) had a third-party pilot audit where employers were randomly checked and endorsed if they complied. This will be launched more broadly next year.

RCSA chief executive Charles Cameron said a third-party audit was a more efficient way to ensure its members were complying.

"Overseas issues of modern slavery have become more prominent, and one of the issues in a changing world is more innovative ways to employ people have made it complex for even the most sophisticated employers to make sure they are complying to employment standards."

Lumsden said that while the Inspectorate would not provide endorsements that validated the compliance, it would support industries that did so.

"That's what we're looking for all industries. We want them to take responsibility for their own industry."

"We'll get to a point where people will think twice before buying goods or services unless they can guarantee those industries are looking after their workers.

* Bella is not the person's real name.