Restaurant faces $1m fine for allegedly shortchanging young staff in Australia-first wage theft case
A Victorian restaurant faces a potential fine of more than $1m and jail time for its owner, in an Australianfirst wage theft case brought over allegations it underpaid workers by thousands of dollars.
The Wage Inspectorate Victoria has deployed the first criminal wage theft charges in Australia, filing a combined 94 against the Macedon Lounge, northwest of Melbourne, and its “officer”.
A company’s officer is someone who controls the business.
The watchdog alleges the restaurant and its officer broke the law between July and November in 2021 by withholding more than $7,000 in employee entitlements including wages, penalty rates and superannuation.
The charges related to four young former staff members, the inspectorate said.
New laws kicked in on 1 July last year making it a crime for Victorian employers to dishonestly underpay their workers or withhold their entitlements. Companies that break the laws can face fines of more than $1.1m, while individuals can be jailed for up to 10 years.
“These are the only stand-alone, criminal wage theft laws in Australia,” the wage inspectorate commissioner, Robert Hortle, said.
“There are serious penalties for dishonestly withholding employee entitlements in Victoria.”
Wage theft is also a crime in Queensland under the state’s criminal code, which states that stealing can include “failure to pay an employee”. However, no prosecution has reportedly yet been mounted on this basis.
The Macedon Lounge is due to face Broadmeadows magistrates court in February next year.
The wage inspectorate has launched 10 prosecutions since July last year, including against NAB and CommSec.
Hortle said it was doggedly investigating reports of wage theft and it intended to bring further matters before the courts.
The Macedon Lounge has been contacted for comment.