Coast cafe facing legal action
A POPULAR Gold Coast cafe is facing legal action for allegedly failing to pay its casual staffers correctly.
The Bulletin can reveal the Fair Work Ombudsman has commenced action in the Federal Circuit Court against Sun Sea Equity Pty Ltd, which traded as ‘3 Beans’, and its sole director Natasha Doumani.
The Broadbeach cafe is a regular haunt of visiting film stars, notably a favourite for Hollywood actor Jodie Foster when she filmed on the Coast.
The Fair Work Ombudsman alleges that the company breached the Fair Work Act by failing to comply with a compliance notice requiring the company to correctly calculate and back-pay alleged underpayments of two casual cafe workers.
The Ombudsman alleges Ms Doumani, the sole director and company secretary, was involved in the breach.
A Fair Work Inspector issued the compliance notice earlier this year in response to
Nim’s Island requests for help from the two employees, both aged in their 20s.
A Fair Work Inspector after an investigation had “formed a reasonable belief that the company allegedly underpaid minimum wage rates for ordinary hours, casual loading, overtime, weekend and public holiday penalty rates, and late night and early morning shift payments”.
In a Statement of Claim, Sun Sea Equity allegedly provided a schedule identifying for one employee that they were underpaid $30,243 and owed superannuation of more than $2800.
The staffer who was employed to prepare food and beverages had been with the restaurant since 2016.
The company allegedly made some smaller repayments for another staffer who worked two public holidays but no proof of payment was provided to show the other outstanding money owed to a long serving staffer had been paid.
Action was then launched after the company allegedly failed to respond to the compliance notice.
Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said compliance notices were an important tool to recover allegedly unpaid wages, and they would be enforced where they had not been followed.
“Under the Fair Work Act, inspectors can issue a compliance notice if they have a reasonable belief that an employer has breached workplace laws. Employers must comply with compliance notices unless they decide to challenge a notice in court,” Ms Parker said.
The FWO is seeking penalties, with Sun Sea Equity facing a maximum penalty per breach of $31,500 and Ms Doumani a maximum penalty of $6300 per breach.
The Bulletin contacted the restaurant but is yet to get a response.
The FWO is also seeking a court order requiring the company to comply with the compliance notice, which includes rectifying the underpayments in full, plus superannuation and interest.
A directions hearing has been listed in the Federal Circuit Court in Brisbane for March 27 next year.