Court says employer's conduct 'clearly deliberate and intentional'
One of Australia's largest celery producers has received a penalty of $166,860 for the "deliberate" underpayment of migrant employees for a year.
The Federal Circuit and Family Court imposed the penalties against A & G Lamattina & Sons Pty Ltd (Lamattina) for underpaying three employees a total of $91,907 between February 2020 and February 2021.
It failed to pay them minimum wages, casual loading, overtime, and public holiday rates owed under the Horticulture Awards 2010 and 2020.
In his decision, Judge Karl Blake slammed Lamattina's conduct as "egregious."
"It is difficult to think of a contravention of an award that is more serious than a complete failure to pay employees their wages. That is what occurred in this case," Blake said.
"The [company]'s conduct was clearly deliberate and intentional."
Blake, while imposing the penalties, considered the employees' losses to be significant. He also noted the length over which the contraventions occurred, the significant sums of underpayments, Lamattina's lack of remorse, and their lack of steps to prevent contraventions in the future.
Lamattina breached the Fair Work Act for failing to pay three farmhands in full and at least monthly between February 2020 and February 2021, according to the Fair Work Ombudsman.
The underpayments were discovered when the three farmhands, who all come from non-English speaking backgrounds, raised concerns about their pay with their employer.
An investigation by the FWO revealed that one of the farmhands was underpaid by more than $37,000, while the other two were underpaid by more than $27,000 each.
Lamattina has since rectified the underpayments in full in February 2023, according to the FWO. But this is two years after the relevant work period.
Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth slammed the employer's conduct as "appalling."
"I believe supermarket shoppers would be dismayed to know their Lamattina celery was grown by workers deprived of such large sums of their hard-earned wages," Booth said in a statement.
"We don't tolerate the exploitation of migrant workers, who have the same rights in Australia as any other workers. Protecting their workplace rights is an ongoing priority for the Fair Work Ombudsman."
