Serving of fines
Eatery ordered to pay $29k
The operator of a defunct Smithfield restaurant has been hit with almost $30,000 in fines after being found guilty of underpaying migrant workers.
The Federal Circuit and Family Court ordered the former operator of Smithfield Shopping Centre eatery Buffalo’s to pay $29,970 in penalties for failing to act in accordance with compliance notices relating to back-pay leave entitlements for three workers whose employment ended between April and October 2020.
The workers included a parttime cook, a part-time food and beverage attendant and a fulltime operations manager. Two of the workers were visa holders, from Turkey and France.
The court also ordered Buffalo’s Cairns Operations, which closed in 2020, to calculate and pay the money owed to the employees, with interest.
The Fair Work Ombudsman investigated this case after receiving requests for assistance from the affected workers.
Compliance notices were issued in January 2021, after a Fair Work inspector concluded the three workers had not been paid their annual leave entitlement on termination as owed under the Fair Work Act’s National Employment Standards, and that two of the workers were underpaid annual leave loading entitlements under the Restaurant Industry Award.
Judge Gregory Egan said the entitlements remained outstanding and the company had not made any arrangement to pay them.
Judge Egan said there had not been “any contrition shown” and he felt the need to impose a penalty that would deter the company and others from similar conduct.
Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said any employees who had concerns about their pay or entitlements could contact the office of the Fair Work Ombudsman for free advice.