A scheme set up by the Labour Department's troubled Pacific division is being investigated after dozens of seasonal workers from Kiribati were sent home penniless.
ONE News has uncovered claims of mistreatment by a contractor and mismanagement from the department itself .
The workers went to Blenheim to fill a drastic labour shortage and to earn cash.
"With the Kiribati people it's been an absolute disaster. They came over here, I think ill prepared by their own government and left it up to us to do basic trainings," contractor Garry Maxwell-Smith told ONE News.
However, it is understood that Maxwell-Smith only provided a three bedroom house to be shared amongst 22 workers.
Maxwell-Smith also says his Kiribati employees were disrespectful, lazy and uneducated.
"Kiribati people are their own failures...they weren't motivated and I couldn't get them to work," he says.
The Labour Department disagreed and redistributed most of the workers to other contractors.
It also warned Maxwell-Smith about mistreating workers.
"We are undertaking a full investigation of Forevintage and their track record," says Lesley Haines, Labour Department.
But the Labour Department's Pacific division is also under the spotlight.
The division was established by Mary Anne Thompson, who resigned earlier this year after ONE News revealed she helped relatives from Kiribati get residence in New Zealand.
Employers say the Kiribati people have been inadequately prepared for the cold climate and Kiwi culture.
"Employers and the department have had to deal with situations that weren't anticipated at the start of the scheme," says Haines.
The amount of work was misjudged and now it has run out the Kiribati team is being sent home, some of them have only been in New Zealand for two months and leave penniless.
The workers were told 12 hours ago that they are being sent home and the rest will be leaving in the next few days. All except for a group 10 workers, who are on the run.
Employers and the Labour Department are currently looking into imrpoving the scheme.
