A former Perth restaurant operator is facing Court for allegedly requiring a Bangladeshi worker to repay thousands of dollars of his wages and then dismissing him because he lodged a workers’ compensation claim after injuring his back at work.
The Fair Work Ombudsman has commenced legal action in the Federal Court against Perth man Sushil Kumar, who formerly owned and ran the Bricklane British Curry House in Leederville. Also facing Court is Kumar’s company, Bikaner India (WA) Pty Ltd.
The Fair Work Ombudsman is asking the Federal Court to impose penalties against Kumar and his company for several alleged contraventions of workplace laws and for an Order for them to rectify more than $38,000 in alleged underpayments.
The allegedly underpaid worker is a Bangladeshi man who was sponsored by Kumar’s company to work as a cook at the Bricklane British Curry House on a 457 skilled worker visa.
It is alleged the cook, then aged in his late 30s, was contracted on an annual salary of $54,000 when he was recruited from Bangladesh in 2015.
The cook allegedly generally worked six or seven days a week, often performing more than 50 hours work per week.
However, it is alleged that after paying the cook a flat rate of $1634 per fortnight, Kumar and his company required the cook to withdraw cash and pay-back $434 of his wages.
In addition to the alleged unlawful cash-back arrangement, the Fair Work Ombudsman claims Kumar also prevented the cook from returning to work following an injury sustained in the workplace.
It is further alleged that the cook sent a workers’ compensation claim to Kumar in June last year and Kumar responded by dismissing him the following day.
Kumar allegedly then contacted the Department of Immigration and Border Protection to inform them that the cook’s employment had been terminated.
After being dismissed, the cook lodged a request for assistance with the Fair Work Ombudsman and an investigation was commenced.
It is alleged the dismissal contravened the Fair Work Act because it amounted to adverse action against the cook for exercising his workplace right to lodge a workers’ compensation claim.
It is alleged that the unlawful cashback arrangement and the underpayment of contractual and other minimum entitlements led to the worker being short-changed a total of $38,822.
Kumar faces maximum penalties of up to $10,800 per contravention and Bikaner India (WA) Pty Ltd faces penalties of up to $54,000 per contravention.
Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James says she has been concerned about the use of cashback arrangements in a number of matters nationally and it was concerning that the behaviour had allegedly now been found in such a serious matter in WA.
“It is hard to see a legitimate reason why an employer would require employees to be regularly paying back significant parts of their wage, and I am concerned that cashback schemes are being utilised by unscrupulous operators in an attempt to get around record keeping laws and disguise serious underpayment of wages,” says James.
“We welcome the Government’s commitment to strengthen laws to explicitly cover cash back arrangements.”
James says workers who find themselves in this situation should document what is going on by making their own records and contact the Fair Work Ombudsman for free advice and assistance.
“I want to make it clear that the lawful obligations to pay minimum wage rates, keep appropriate employment records and issue pay slips apply to all employers in Australia and they are not negotiable.”
Image: ABC
