Heavy fine for underpaying casuals
A Melbourne carwash firm and
its owner and sole director have been fined $207 900 for
underpaying five staff a total of $4,511. The company admitted to
underpaying the five casual workers in 2006.
The director of the mobile car-washing business failed to pay all
or most of their wages. This included an 18-year-old who was
employed to wash, clean and detail cars for 10 shifts but was not
paid any of the $851 in wages he was entitled to. Magistrate Kate
Hawkins said she was satisfied the underpayment of the five workers
was 'entirely deliberate' and that the director and his company had
'attempted to take advantage of the youth and naivety of the
employees'.
Once complaints were made to the Workplace Ombudsman
(WO), the company and director attempted to evade
correspondence from a WO Investigator and refused to reimburse the
five workers the money owed for more than two years. It was not
until the matter went to court in February that the employees were
reimbursed. Magistrate Hawkins accepted the court proceedings as
the reason for the eventual reparation. In her judgment, Her Honour
stated the company and its director had shown no contrition for
their 'wholly unlawful' conduct and that the court could not be
satisfied they had learnt their lessons and would not engage in
such conduct in the future.
Magistrate Hawkins stated 'the [company and director] must get the
message that they must comply with the law or close the business
down' and that the law should 'mark its disapproval of the conduct
in question and set a penalty which serves as a warning to others'.
A penalty of 70 percent of the maximum for each breach was applied,
resulting in the company being ordered to pay $184,800 for eight
breaches of the award or Act, and the director/owner $23,100 for
five breaches of the award or Act.
Advice
- The severity of this fine acts as a warning for all employers
about the attitude of the courts when dealing with underpayments of
this type.
- Employers are advised to ensure that the correct entitlements
for employees are paid and steps are taken by employers of all
sizes to ascertain and comply with minimum entitlements.
For further information, please
contact:
Louise Houlihan, Partner
Ph (direct): +61 3 9608 2273
Email:
l.houlihan@cornwalls.com.au