A Werribee South tomato grower has been fined more than $150,000 after admitting to underpaying its employees.
On Monday, the Federal Circuit and Family Court issued a fine of $130,806 against Lotus Farm Pty Ltd and $28,987 against one of the company’s directors, Son Thai, for underpaying two employees, falsifying records to hide the underpayments, and making unlawful deductions.
The fines follow an investigation into Lotus Farm by the Fair Work Ombudsmen (FWO), which received requests for assistance from two former employees of the company.
The employees, both from non-English speaking backgrounds, alleged they were paid unlawfully low hourly rates while working at the farm as pickers and packers.
In a statement, FWO said Lotus Farm admitted it underpaid the two employees in hourly rates, casual loading, overtime and public holiday penalty rates as set out in the Horticulture Industry Award 2010. As a result one worker was underpaid $22,364 and the other $6,167 between June, 2017, and September, 2020.
Mr Thai conceded he was involved in the underpayments and also in providing false and misleading pay slips to the FWO, making unlawful deductions from one worker’s pay and failing to make and keep records as required, according to FWO.
Deputy Chief Judge Patrizia Mercuri characterised the conduct of failing to provide the employees with pay slips, then providing false pay slips to the FWO as “particularly serious”.
“… The provision of misleading information was clearly a deliberate act and had the potential to derail and or extend the investigation,” she said.
In imposing the penalties, Deputy Chief Judge Mercuri noted the need to reflect in them “the court’s strong disapproval”.
“This is particularly so given the nature of the industry and the vulnerability of the affected employees.”
Acting Fair Work Ombudsman Michael Campbell welcomed the penalties and said the employer’s conduct was serious.
“The exploitation of vulnerable, non-English speaking migrant workers is not something we tolerate,” he said.
“These substantial penalties against Lotus Farm and its general manager send a clear message that those who attempt to cover up significant underpayments, including with false payslips, will be found out and face costly consequences.”
The underpayments have been paid back in full and Lotus Farm is believed to have introduced changes to prevent a recurrence.
