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The organisations took advantage of visa holders and failed to act after being notified by the FWO.
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Restaurant, bakery chain fined thousands for short-changing migrant workers
18 May 2023
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10 minute read
The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) has secured over $90,000 in court penalties against a bakery and restaurant as part of its crackdown on employee entitlements for vulnerable workers.
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Gothic Downs, which operates Bakers Boutique & Patisserie outlets in shopping centres across Melbourne, was fined $50,400 and the company’s sole director, Giuseppe Conforto, penalised $10,080 for taking advantage of two workers including a visa holder from India.
The penalties came on top of $30,107 that Mr Conforto eventually back paid the two affected workers after the FWO had commenced legal action.
The regulator investigated the company after it received requests for assistance from the two affected workers who were employed at outlets in Meadow Heights and Caroline Springs between 2016 and 2018.
The investigator issued compliance notices to Gothic Downs in December 2019 after finding that the company had underpaid the workers’ minimum wages, shift rates and public holiday and weekend penalty rates under the award.
In her ruling, Judge Heather Riley noted that the Indian worker, who was sponsored by Gothic Downs on a temporary work-skilled visa, had been taken advantage of and that Mr Conforto “took advantage of her vulnerability”.
The judge ruled the breaches were deliberate, that the firm and Mr Conforto knew what they were doing, and rejected the claim they were confused about how much was owed to the workers.
“To my mind, the respondents’ protestations ring hollow, in circumstances where they did not pay even the minimum amounts that they conceded were owing until long after the compliance notices required rectification,” said Judge Riley.
The FWO also secured a $29,970 penalty against Buffalos Cairns Operations trading as Buffalo’s at Smithfield Shopping Centre.
The court imposed the penalty due to the company's failure to comply with compliance notices issued by the FWO to back pay three workers employed at the business between April 2020 and October 2020.
The employees worked as cooks, food and beverage attendants as well as operations managers. Two of the workers were visa holders from Turkey and France.
Compliance notices were issued to Buffalo’s in January 2021 after an investigator formed a belief that the three workers had not been paid their entitlement to annual leave when their employment was terminated and that two of the workers were also underpaid annual leave loading entitlements.
In imposing the penalty, Judge Gregory Egan said the entitlements remained unpaid, indicating a lack of “any contrition”. Judge Egan also ordered the company to calculate and pay any monies owing to the employees plus interest.
Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said businesses need to act on issued compliance notices or face the consequences and that taking advantage of vulnerable workers such as migrants would attract intense scrutiny from the regulator.
“When compliance notices are not followed, we are prepared to take legal action to ensure workers receive their lawful entitlements,” said Ms Parker.
“Employers also need to be aware that taking action to protect vulnerable workers like visa holders continues to be a priority for the FWO.”
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