Former director, manager of La La Bar Group fined for workplace law breaches

The former director and a general manager of Melbourne-based La La Bar Group companies have been fined after they were found deliberately violating workplace laws.

Former director and shareholder Keri Taiaroa was fined $41,368, while former general manager Matthew Sanger was fined $26,893.

The penalties stem from findings in 2019 audits that several companies under the La La Bar Group failed to make and keep proper records.

"The La La Bar Group was audited in response to intelligence and allegations about non-compliance," Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said in a statement.

Both Taiaroa and Sanger later admitted they were involved in the record-keeping breaches by six La La Bar Group companies, which led to the imposition of penalties.

Judge Heather Riley said the record-keeping was "mostly inadequate" and that the breaches were "deliberate."

"Like Mr. Taiaroa, there is no evidence that Mr. Sanger apologised to the people affected most by the contraventions: the employees. His apology appears to me to be formulaic, and designed to minimise the penalty he might receive rather than a genuine expression of remorse," Riley said as quoted by the FWO.

Accounting firm also fined

Meanwhile, the companies' former accounting firm Nicholas Accounting management Services was also fined for failing to comply with Notices to Produce during the investigations on the La La Bar Group companies.

The company argued that the required documents did not exist, but the FWO managed to seize the documents that the accounting firm was required to provide in an unannounced visit in January 2020.

Riley referred to this in imposing a fine of $34,020 against the Nicholas Accounting Management Services, adding that its director Nicholas Nicolaou was also "totally involved in the breach."

"There was loss or damage in that Mr. Nicolaou’s involvement in the failures to comply with the notices to produce impacted on the FWO's ability to fulfil its function of investigating workplace conduct," Riley said.

Nicolau was ordered to pay $35,154 for his involvement in the case.

Booth said the case underscores that the agency is prepared to act against firms and individuals that they believe breached workplace laws.

"Employers need to be aware that breaching record-keeping laws and failing to comply with lawful requests like Notices to Produce, which were found to be deliberate in this matter, will not be tolerated and risk significant penalties," Booth said.