Legal costs have pushed to more than $42,000 an amount owed by a former restaurateur for whom an illegal worker toiled for 12 months without pay.

The residual Employment Tribunal initially ordered Alexander Gomes of the Shiva Indian Restaurant in Takapuna to pay penalties of $14,700 to the Labour Department and wage arrears of $20,000 plus interest owed to tandoori chef Ahish Ralli.

It has in a subsequent decision added $8240 in legal costs to a bill which the department has yet to recover from Mr Gomes.

Tribunal acting adjudicator Alastair Dumbleton has recommended that Work and Income be invited to seek a first cut from the wages arrears, to recover money which Mr Ralli accepted from a friend illegally drawing a benefit while working.

Although the restaurant has been struck off the companies register, Mr Dumbleton said Mr Gomes was responsible for the unlawful employment of workers who had either left the country or were lying low from the gaze of the Immigration Service.

He said in his original decision that even if Mr Ralli worked in breach of immigration rules, his rights to wages were enforceable by law.

Although Mr Ralli eventually gained permanent residency here, he has since moved to Australia.

The tribunal heard he arrived in New Zealand on a two-month visitor's permit in 1998 and the next day began a 15-month stint at the restaurant, where he was paid nothing until gaining a work permit a year later.

After that he was given $700 for two weeks' work and then two $500 cheques, one of which bounced. He received $350 for his final seven days.

Mr Dumbleton said it was audacious for Mr Ralli to complain about his job conditions after working so long in breach of his entry permit and after helping another person to retain welfare payments illegally.

But minimum employment codes had to be enforced to protect other workers.

-NZ Herald