Fruit and vegetable shops fined for underpaying workers

July 8 2019 ABC News


The operators of a fruit, vegetable and flower business with stores across Melbourne's east have been fined $243,000 for underpaying workers and producing misleading pay records.
Key points:   

    Three employees were underpaid by nearly $133,000
    The business kept false and misleading pay records
    The Fair Work Ombudsman described the breaches as "appalling"

The Federal Circuit Court ordered A & S Wholesale Fruit and Vegetables Pty Ltd and two of its operators to pay the penalty after they agreed they had underpaid three employees by nearly $133,000.

The business had employed the three workers at its stores across Chirnside Park, Fountain Gate, Parkmore and Dandenong between 2012 and 2014.

The penalty was handed down after the Fair Work Ombudsman took action over the business's conduct, which also included failures to pay penalty rates and overtime rates.

The business had paid the workers varying flat rates of between $10 and $18.52 per hour and at least two of the employees were sometimes paid "off the books", the court judgment said.

The business was fined $200,000, while company director Stephen Fanous was fined $30,000 and operations manager Etherah Louli $13,000.

Mr Fanous was found to be involved in most of the company's breaches of workplace law, while Ms Louli was only involved in some of those relating to record-keeping and payslips.

In his judgment, Judge John O'Sullivan said the company's conduct was "serious" and that Mr Fanous had "used record keeping practices which had the effect of concealing the contraventions".

Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said the business had been involved in an "appalling" case of deliberate exploitation.

Sandra Parker says the company deliberately tried to hide the underpayment.

"They've had two sets of books — they've had a set of books with the correct figures in them and one with the falsified figures in them, deliberately trying to hide how they were paying their workers below minimum entitlements," she said.

Ms Parker said the fact that employees were not provided with payslips meant the ombudsman had to piece together their working hours using electronic tag data from toll roads.

The court judgment noted the business had repaid the workers the full amounts they were owed.