[Australia] Record fine for sushi chain's 'audacious' employee underpayments

In Australia, the Federal Court has ordered record fines be paid following the "audacious" underpayment of migrant workers by a popular sushi chain, 9News reports.

Sushi Bay group companies were ordered to pay fines totalling $13.7 million after it was revealed that workers were deliberately denied entitlements including penalty rates and annual leave payments.

Yi Jeong "Rebecca" Shin - the company boss - was reportedly ordered to pay a personal penalty of $1.6 million to the Fair Work Ombudsman, with the funds to be distributed to the underpaid workers.

Workers at the Sushi Bay companies - the majority of which are now in liquidation - were found to have been underpaid more than $650,000 with 163 employees suffering losses ranging from around $50 to just under $84,000, according to court documents.

Ms Shin was the sole director and chief executive of the Sushi Bay group, which operated stores in NSW, the ACT and the Northern Territory.

The penalties are the highest ever secured by the Fair Work Ombudsman, surpassing the $10.34 million against the Commonwealth Bank and CommSec earlier this year for underpaying its employees more than $16 million.

Federal Court judge Anna Katzmann had previously found that Sushi Bay failed to pay its workers minimum award rates, casual loadings, annual leave loadings, overtime rates and Saturday, Sunday and public holiday penalty rates.

In addition, it failed to pay annual leave entitlements on termination for accrued but untaken annual leave.

Some employees had also reportedly been unreasonably required to pay part of their wages back to their employers, while the companies made false records to try to cover up the conduct.

"The overwhelming majority of the contraventions were committed deliberately and intentionally," Justice Katzmann said in her judgment.

"The respondents' conduct was both calculated and audacious.

"This is yet another case of the exploitation of immigrant workers and a shameless but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to conceal it."

The judgment reportedly noted that the majority of the underpaid workers were on temporary visas and just over half were under the age of 25.

Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said deliberately and repeatedly exploiting workers, including vulnerable migrant workers, was "reprehensible" conduct that would not be tolerated in Australia.

"We treat cases involving underpayments, cashback and other record-keeping breaches impacting migrant workers particularly seriously, as we know that they can be vulnerable due to factors such as a lack of awareness of their entitlements or a reluctance to complain," she said.

Ms Booth said that acting to protect vulnerable workers and improving compliance in the fast food, restaurant and café sectors was a priority for the ombudsman.

In March, the court ordered Sushi Bay Group to repay various sums representing the amounts their employees had been underpaid plus interest.

It was also told to make superannuation contributions on the ordinary-time components of those underpayments.

The liquidator reportedly responded that the companies could not comply because they were being wound up and the orders had been "recorded on the listings of creditors".

Source: 9News

(Quotes via original reporting)

In Australia, the Federal Court has ordered record fines be paid following the "audacious" underpayment of migrant workers by a popular sushi chain, 9News reports.

Sushi Bay group companies were ordered to pay fines totalling $13.7 million after it was revealed that workers were deliberately denied entitlements including penalty rates and annual leave payments.

Yi Jeong "Rebecca" Shin - the company boss - was reportedly ordered to pay a personal penalty of $1.6 million to the Fair Work Ombudsman, with the funds to be distributed to the underpaid workers.

Workers at the Sushi Bay companies - the majority of which are now in liquidation - were found to have been underpaid more than $650,000 with 163 employees suffering losses ranging from around $50 to just under $84,000, according to court documents.

Ms Shin was the sole director and chief executive of the Sushi Bay group, which operated stores in NSW, the ACT and the Northern Territory.

The penalties are the highest ever secured by the Fair Work Ombudsman, surpassing the $10.34 million against the Commonwealth Bank and CommSec earlier this year for underpaying its employees more than $16 million.

Federal Court judge Anna Katzmann had previously found that Sushi Bay failed to pay its workers minimum award rates, casual loadings, annual leave loadings, overtime rates and Saturday, Sunday and public holiday penalty rates.

In addition, it failed to pay annual leave entitlements on termination for accrued but untaken annual leave.

Some employees had also reportedly been unreasonably required to pay part of their wages back to their employers, while the companies made false records to try to cover up the conduct.

"The overwhelming majority of the contraventions were committed deliberately and intentionally," Justice Katzmann said in her judgment.

"The respondents' conduct was both calculated and audacious.

"This is yet another case of the exploitation of immigrant workers and a shameless but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to conceal it."

The judgment reportedly noted that the majority of the underpaid workers were on temporary visas and just over half were under the age of 25.

Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said deliberately and repeatedly exploiting workers, including vulnerable migrant workers, was "reprehensible" conduct that would not be tolerated in Australia.

"We treat cases involving underpayments, cashback and other record-keeping breaches impacting migrant workers particularly seriously, as we know that they can be vulnerable due to factors such as a lack of awareness of their entitlements or a reluctance to complain," she said.

Ms Booth said that acting to protect vulnerable workers and improving compliance in the fast food, restaurant and café sectors was a priority for the ombudsman.

In March, the court ordered Sushi Bay Group to repay various sums representing the amounts their employees had been underpaid plus interest.

It was also told to make superannuation contributions on the ordinary-time components of those underpayments.

The liquidator reportedly responded that the companies could not comply because they were being wound up and the orders had been "recorded on the listings of creditors".

Source: 9News

(Quotes via original reporting)