A construction company owner teetering on liquidation says there is simply “no money” to pay more than $300,000 to two former employees.  Auckland property developer Anthony Corin’s business, Longevity Construction, was ordered by the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) to pay the two workers in compensation and wage arrears after they were unjustifiably dismissed in 2024.  Now Diederik van Heerden and Robert Williams have applied for compliance orders against their former employer after they still had not received their payout almost a year after the ruling in April 2025.  “There is no money there,” Corin told NZME.  “The economy drop of 35% has destroyed my companies,” he said.  “I’m just a victim of a drop in the market.”  Longevity and the case of Diederik van Heerden  Diederik took his case for unjustifiable dismissal to the ERA in 2024.  He initially worked as an independent contractor in 2021 but became an employee in May 2023 as a construction operations manager. But in January 2024, he was called to a meeting and told he was being made redundant as the renovation side of the business had closed.  He never received pay for work he completed in February 2024, which authority member Rachel Larmer said was Longevity acting in an “unlawful manner”.  Longevity was ordered to pay van Heerden $206,138.47, consisting of $166,153.85 in lost remuneration, $4984.62 as the compulsory employer contribution to KiwiSaver and $35,000 in distress compensation for his unjustified dismissals.  Diederik (Didi) Van Heerden and his wife Elsje were made redundant from Longevity at the same time. Photo / Supplied.  When that went unpaid, it was ordered to pay a total of $207,408.59, consisting of $500 as part of the penalty imposed on it for breaching the employment act and $770.12 in wage arrears for the hours he had worked on February 28, 2024, but not been paid for.  The company was also ordered to pay interest on any part of the $207,408.59 van Heerden had been awarded that remained outstanding from May 15, 2025, onwards until paid in full.  Longevity had since paid van Heerden $770.12 for the wage arrears, giving an outstanding amount Longevity still owes of $206,638.47.  Van Heerden’s wife, Elsje, also worked for the company and was made redundant at the same time. Her case was settled before it reached the ERA.  In May last year, the couple told NZME that the redundancy was like “having our throats cut”.  Longevity and the case of Robert Williams  Williams initially started working with Longevity as an independent contractor in July 2023 until he became a full-time construction operations manager later in the year.  Williams was the site manager for the Three Kings development project that Longevity was undertaking.  Corin emailed Williams in March 2024, raising concerns about the cost overruns that had occurred for the second level of the building project at Three Kings.  Corin informed Williams that the solution to the cost overruns was to change to a fixed price contract for the remainder of the structure.  This meant Corin was to “get rid of all the labour-only contract workers [14 of them] and to get a fixed price quote from a builder which includes site management” before he told Williams he was now redundant.  Longevity initially claimed that Williams had resigned or that he had abandoned his employment before acknowledging that his employment had been ended via an email sent by Corin.  The authority ruled in its substantive decision on April 26, 2025, that Longevity was to pay Williams $67,958.67, consisting of unpaid notice pay as wage arrears and interest, lost remuneration, including the KiwiSaver contributions, holiday pay and distress compensation for his unjustified dismissal.  Longevity was looking to challenge the substantive decision on whether Williams was unjustifiably dismissed after...