Adelaide eateries fined for forcing staff to buy bosses bubble tea
The owners of two Vietnamese eateries in Adelaide have been fined more than $800,000 for “reprehensible conduct”, including underpaying one worker by nearly $60,000.
The Federal Court has ordered the husband-and-wife operators of Mr Viet pay more than $802,000 in combined court penalties and compensation after the Federal Court found they underpaid migrant workers.
Mr Viet’s Quoc Mai and Huong Le were fined for their contraventions of the Fair Work act, which included forcing staff to buy them bubble tea.
Mr Viet operates a restaurant off Rundle Mall on James Place and a food court outlet in Chinatown.
The Federal Court ordered Mai back-pay $407,546 plus interest and superannuation to the 36 workers he had underpaid.
Further, Mai was slugged with a $265,000 penalty, while his wife and manager of the Mr Viet eateries was penalised $130,000.
Fair Work said the penalties were imposed for a range of contraventions including: giving false records to Fair Work inspectors; underpaying or not paying minimum rates, weekend and public holiday loading and overtime rates; failing to compensate employees for taking no meal breaks; and employees being unreasonably required to spend their own money.
According to Fair Work, the workers were mostly Vietnamese international students aged under 25 who were paid as little as $15 per hour for a period between January 2018 and September 2021.
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Five of the workers were junior employees aged between 18 and 20.
The workers – all casuals, engaged as kitchen attendants and bar waitstaff – were underpaid by amounts ranging from $75 to as much as $58,592.
According to Fair Work, Mai has a “strike board system” to punish employees for mistakes they made at work.
After six strikes against an employee’s name, that employee would be forced to buy food and beverages for Mai, Le and/or other employees working at the time.
One worker was forced to buy bubble tea for Le and the other employees working in the restaurant.
Further, in February 2021, an employee was made to transfer more than $50 to Le’s personal bank account for the purchase of bubble teas.
The Federal Court ruled this conduct was “unreasonable” in the circumstances.
It was also found that Mai took money from his employees’ pay packets for claims they incorrectly charged a customer, and for failing to properly close a refrigerator door. The court ruled the deductions were “not authorised”.
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In one situation, the Court found the operators gave false record to inspectors when Mai attempted to make the regulator believe he was back-paying his workers, giving one of them $10,000 which he then made the worker withdraw and give back to him.
Justice Stephen McDonald said this was a “calculated and dishonest course of conduct”.
“Mr Mai’s repeated dishonest attempts to conceal contraventions and to mislead the FWO investigation leave me with a concern that he is a person who is prepared to act dishonestly when he thinks it will be to his benefit,” McDonald said.
Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said the contraventions were “disgraceful”.
“These substantial penalties highlight that exploiting vulnerable migrant workers is particularly reprehensible conduct that will not be tolerated in Australia,” Booth said.
“If you exploit your workers you will be found and called out.
“Among the long list of unacceptable conduct, we take a dim view of trying to trick the regulator into believing there is a good faith attempt to rectify non-compliance, only to force an employee who thought he was getting $10,000 to give it all back.”
Booth said Fair Work treated cases involving underpayments of migrant workers “particularly seriously”.
“We are conscious that they can be vulnerable due to lack of awareness of their rights or a reluctance to complain,” Booth said.
“We urge any workers with concerns to contact us.
“Visa holders should be reassured that if they speak out about alleged workplace breaches there are protections for their visa.”
Employers and employees can visit www.fairwork.gov.au or call the Fair Work Infoline on 13 13 94 for free advice and assistance. An interpreter service is available on 13 14 50. The FWO also has an online anonymous report tool, including options in languages other than English, and information for migrant workers is available at our visa holders and migrants webpage.
