The peril of underpaying wages
The Fair Work Ombudsman has penalised ANS.HL Trading Pty Ltd, the operators of four ‘The Ironing Shop’ franchises in Brisbane (ANS.HL Trading Pty Ltd) a total of $112,420, after paying Chinese national wages as low as $8 an hour. It appeared that ANS.HL Trading Pty Ltd had also made use of false or misleading records.
The Federal Circuit Court (the Court) has imposed on ANS.HL Trading Pty Ltd a penalty of $74,700. Additionally, the Court has penalised each of the company’s two directors, fining each, $18,860.
These penalties were imposed after a Chinese national employee was paid a base rate of $8 an hour, later increasing to $12 from 2015 to 2017. It is evident that the worker was underpaid a total of $28,404.
Ms Sandra Parker, the Fair Work Ombudsman condemned the unlawful underpayment of these workers, stating:
“The alleged payment of low flat rates that undercut award entitlements is completely unacceptable. Employers must pay all employees according to Australia’s lawful minimum pay rates. Workers who are on visas are entitled to receive exactly the same rates as Australian workers,..”.
The Fair Work Inspectors uncovered that the payment of a low base rate had resulted in the underpayment of ordinary hourly rates, casual loading, overtime rates and Saturday penalty rates the worker was entitled to under the Dry Cleaning and Laundry Industry Award 2010.
The Fair Work Inspectors also discovered that ANS.HL Trading Pty Ltd was not making the required contributions to superannuation.
The employers and the company also breached workplace laws associated to the frequency of payments, keeping track of and making use of false records, and failing to issue pay slips.
Justice Michael Jarrett (his Honour) rejected the claims of company directors, that having come from China, they were not aware that the low rates they were paying the worker were against the law. His Honour indicated that the directors of ANS.HL Trading Pty Ltd had tampered with records to make it appear that it seemed the worker had been paid $24 per hour.
His Honour held there had been a substantial underpayment over an extended time period, whereby the worker was only paid just over half of her entitlements. Consequently, extreme penalties were imposed.
Please reach out to our Workplace Relations Team on (07) 3872 2222 or at workplacerelations@amaq.com.au, if you have any questions or queries about concerns of underpayment, award compliance and workplace laws.