The Fair Work Ombudsman has secured $179,221 in penalties in court in relation to underpayments of workers at two United Petroleum-branded outlets in Tasmania.
The penalties have been imposed in response to four migrant workers being underpaid a total of $20,230 across just two months’ work, and false pay slips being issued, at United Petroleum-branded outlets at Sandy Bay in Hobart and at Kingston.
The Federal Circuit and Family Court has imposed a $135,143 penalty against KLM Foods Pty Ltd, which operated the Sandy Bay and Kingston outlets.
It has also ordered a $44,078 total penalty against Loveleen Gupta, who was involved in the operations of the outlets as the sole director of KLM Foods and a manager of Vizaan Pty Ltd, a company which employed one of the Kingston outlet workers (but which has since gone into liquidation).
The four affected workers, each visa holders, including from India and Bangladesh, were paid unlawfully low flat rates for their work as console operators between December 2020 and February 2021. One was a junior, aged 19-20 at the time.
The workers were paid flat rates ranging from $16 to $23 per hour for a fixed number of hours per week, and not paid anything for extra hours worked.
KLM Foods and Vizaan rectified the underpayment of these entitlements for all four workers after the FWO commenced investigating. However, KLM Foods and Mr Gupta also breached the Fair Work Act by requiring one of the workers to then make an unlawful cashback payment of $6353 to KLM Foods in June 2023. The underpayment resulting from that cashback has also now been rectified.
Individual underpayments ranged from $2597 to $9574.
KLM Foods also knowingly provided workers with false pay slips and knowingly provided the FWO with false timesheets.
Laws related to record-keeping and having written agreements for part-time staff were also breached.
Mr Gupta was involved in all the contraventions.
FWO targets underpayments of visa holders
FWO Anna Booth says underpayments of visa holders are treated particularly seriously.
“We condemn the underpayments of migrant workers in this case. We also have zero tolerance for unlawful cashback arrangements that attempt to hide underpayments,” she says.
“Employers should be aware that taking action to protect vulnerable workers, like visa holders, is an enduring priority for the FWO.
“All employees in Australia have the same workplace rights, regardless of their visa status, and must be paid in line with Australia’s lawful minimum pay rates for all hours worked.”
Ms Booth says providing false records is also serious and unacceptable conduct.
“Employers should be aware our experienced inspectors will test whether time and wages records are legitimate. If you use false records, you will be found out and you risk being hit with substantial penalties,” she says.
