Business failed to back-pay employee as mandated by Compliance Order
The operator of a dietician business in Adelaide has been penalised with nearly $8,000 for failing to act on a Compliance Order that ordered it to back-pay an employee.
The Federal Circuit and Family Court has ordered a penalty of $7,992 against Clarke Allied Work Pty Ltd, which operates The Innovative Dietitian, according to a media release from the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO).
The operator was penalised after failing to comply with a Compliance Order that required it to calculate and back-pay entitlements to an employee at its Maylands outlet between August 2020 and June 2022.
The Compliance Order was issued in September 2022 after a Fair Work Inspector believed that the worker, a principal dietitian, was not paid any wages for his final three weeks of work, owed under the Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2020.
The employee also did not receive his accrued but untaken annual leave entitlements at the end of his employment, as owed under the Fair Work Act's National Employment Standards.
"In this case, it suffices to observe that the penalty to be set will need to be set at a level which having regard to the importance and relevance of general deterrence as a consideration, acts as a warning to other employers generally, not to engage in the conduct of contravening Compliance Notices," said Judge Antoni Lucev as quoted in the FWO media release.
According to the FWO, the employee was only back-paid a total of $10,387, plus more than $1,000 in superannuation, after legal action commenced against Clarke Allied.
Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth reiterated the reminder that employers also risk facing penalties on top of back-pay orders when they fail to act on Compliance Notices.
"When Compliance Notices are not followed, we will continue to take legal action to protect employees. Employers who fail to act on these notices risk substantial penalties," Booth said in a statement.
