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Four migrant workers were victims of what was described as “remorseless” breaches of basic terms of awards payments by their United Petroleum-branded employers.
Two United Petroleum-branded outlets in Tasmania have been pursued and punished via the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) after they were found guilty of underpayments. The regulator secured a total of $179,221 in penalties in court.
The penalties were imposed in response to four migrant workers being underpaid a total of $20,230 across just two months’ work, with false pay slips also being issued at United Petroleum-branded outlets located at Sandy Bay in Hobart and at Kingston, south of Hobart.
A penalty of $135,143 was also imposed against KLM Foods, which operated the Sandy Bay and Kingston outlets. Loveleen Gupta – who was involved in the operations of the outlets as the sole director of KLM Foods – also copped a $44,078 total penalty.
“We condemn the underpayments of migrant workers in this case. We also have zero tolerance for unlawful cashback arrangements that attempt to hide underpayments,” said Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth.
“Employers should be aware that taking action to protect vulnerable workers, like visa holders, is an enduring priority for the Fair Work Ombudsman. All employees in Australia have the same workplace rights, regardless of their visa status, and must be paid in line with Australia’s lawful minimum pay rates for all hours worked.”
The four affected workers – each visa holder – were paid unlawfully low flat rates for their work as console operators at the United Petroleum-branded outlets at Sandy Bay and Kingston between December 2020 and February 2021. One was a young worker aged between 19-20 during his tenure.
According to the FWO, “the workers were paid flat rates ranging from $16 to $23 per hour for a fixed number of hours per week and not paid anything for extra hours worked”.
“This resulted in the workers being variously underpaid minimum wages, overtime rates, and penalty rates for weekend, public holiday and afternoon-shift work, under the Vehicle Repair, Services and Retail Award 2020,” FWO said.
“KLM Foods and Vizaan rectified the underpayment of these entitlements for all four workers after the FWO commenced investigating – however, KLM Foods and Mr Gupta also breached the Fair Work Act by requiring one of the workers to then make an unlawful cashback payment of $6,353 to KLM Foods in June 2023. The underpayment resulting from that cashback has also now been rectified.”
The individual underpayments of the workers ranged from $2,597 to $9,574.
As previously mentioned, KLM Foods also knowingly provided the workers with false pay slips and knowingly provided the FWO with false timesheets. Gupta himself was involved in all the contraventions.
“Employers should be aware that our experienced inspectors will test whether time and wages records are legitimate. If you use false records, you will be found out and you risk being hit with substantial penalties,” said Booth.
Judge Karl Blake – who oversaw the case – found that KLM Foods and Gupta had “blatantly disregarded” the terms of awards, and requiring the worker to unlawfully repay wages was “particularly unpalatable”.
Judge Blake found that KLM Foods and Gupta had shown no remorse for underpaying the workers, and there was a need to impose penalties to deter them from future breaches.
According to Judge Blake, the exploitation of migrant workers “remains a significant problem in the Australian community. There is a need to send a strong and clear message to ensure that the type of conduct disclosed in this case is not repeated.”
Kace O'Neill
Kace O'Neill is a Graduate Journalist for HR Leader. Kace studied Media Communications and Maori studies at the University of Otago, he has a passion for sports and storytelling.
