Owner also placed on $1,500 good behaviour bond for two years
The owner of Kanteen Krew has been fined $4,000 after pleading guilty to multiple breaches of Victoria's child employment laws.
According to the Wage Inspectorate Victoria, the owner of the canteen services business pleaded guilty on Friday in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court to 23 charges, including:
- Employing 10 children without a child employment permit or licence on 64 occasions
- Employing three children below the minimum working age of 13 on 20 occasions
- Employing 10 children for more hours than allowed during the school term on 56 occasions
Her Honour Magistrate McCarthy opted not to record a conviction after considering the early guilty plea and the absence of prior convictions.
However, in addition to the fine, the defendant was also placed on a $1,500 good behaviour bond for two years for the charges involving children under 13.
McCarthy noted that, had it not been for the plea, a fine of $10,000 would have been warranted.
Child employment offences
The case stems from offences that took place between June 3 and September 10, 2023, according to the Wage Inspectorate Victoria.
Court documents revealed that the Kanteen Krew employed children who worked up to eight hours a day in canteens located at sporting clubs in Brighton and Elsternwick. Their responsibilities included cooking, cleaning, making coffee, taking orders, as well as operating and cleaning the barbecue facilities.
"Employing kids under 15 appears to be a key aspect of Kanteen Krew's operating model, so it's hard to fathom how it could be operating with disregard for child employment laws – rostering kids for eight-hour shifts and even employing kids under the legal working age," said Robert Hortle, Commissioner of Wage Inspectorate Victoria, in a statement.
"A weekend job can be a positive experience, but we can't have kids working up to eight-hour days. They don't have the physical or mental stamina for that. They need time to rest on the weekend to ensure they can focus at school, which must be the priority for kids that age."
Victoria implements child employment regulations to protect minors from work that may jeopardise their health and wellbeing. Under these laws, children must be at least 11 years old to deliver newspapers and advertising material and at least 13 to engage in other types of work, including roles in retail and hospitality.
"Community members often act as our eyes and ears across the state – they're very protective of kids and they'll let us know if they sense something's not right, as happened in this case," Hortle said.
