It is alleged 12 employees – including overseas workers - have been underpaid more than $24,000
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An Oliver Brown chocolate café franchisee is facing Court, with the Fair Work Ombudsman alleging 12 employees were underpaid over $24,000.
Oliver Brown Soul Pty Ltd, which operates the Oliver Brown café at Surfers Paradise, and the café’s erstwhile manager Steven Chung are facing the Federal Circuit Court.
HRD contacted Oliver Brown for comment, but did not receive a response prior to publication.
The FWO alleges the workers were underpaid a total of $24,575 when they were employed at the cafe on a casual basis.
Seven of the employees were overseas workers, including four on 417 working holiday visas, with the others on a 457 skilled worker visa, 444 special category visa and a partner visa. Two of the employees were aged 18, one was aged 19 and another was aged 20.
FWO inspectors audited the café after the workers made underpayment allegations.
It is alleged inspectors found the use of flat rates resulted in workers variously being underpaid the minimum rates for ordinary hours, casual loadings, and penalty rates for weekend, public holiday, late night and early morning work they were entitled to under the Restaurant Industry Award 2010.
The largest underpayment was $9188 of an adult 417 visa-holder from Korea who was paid flat rates of between $10 and $16.48 for all hours worked, despite being entitled to receive casual rates of up to $23.09 for ordinary hours, $27.71 on weekends and $46.18 on public holidays, at the time.
One of the junior employees was paid flat hourly rates as low as $13 despite being entitled to receive casual rates of up to $16.16 for ordinary hours, $19.40 on weekends and $32.23 on public holidays. Contraventions of pay slip laws are also alleged.
Despite all employees having been back-paid in full, the Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James said a decision was made to commence legal action because of the significant underpayment over a relatively short period and the fact the situation involved multiple young employees.
“The use of discount flat rates is unacceptable and we treat exploitation of young workers very seriously because they can be vulnerable if they are not aware of their rights or reluctant to complain,” said James.
Oliver Brown Soul Pty Ltd faces penalties of up to $54,000 per contravention, while Chung faces penalties of up to $10,800 per contravention.
The FWO is also seeking Court orders for Oliver Brown Soul Pty Ltd to commission an audit of its pay practices and workplace relations training for Chung and other managers.