The Federal Court has imposed a $22,400 penalty against a former owner-operator of a labour-hire company for having underpaid 80 workers it placed at a Queensland mushroom farm.
The recipient of the penalties is HRS Country Pty Ltd and its operator Tao Hu, who admitted her involvement in underpaying the employees a total of $78,664 for eight months in 2014. The company though went into liquidation in 2016.
The workers were employed by labour-hire company, which was contracted to supply labour to the mushroom farm at Stapylton, south of Brisbane. Some of the underpaid employees were migrant workers, including visa holders.
The employees were paid a flat hourly rate of $16.37, which was determined to be insufficient to meet the minimum hourly rate, casual loading and public holiday rates the employees were entitled to under the Horticulture Award 2010. They were also not provided with paid rest breaks they were entitled to under the Award, and weren’t provided with payslips.
As the penalty falls short of the underpayments incurred, the Court ordered that Hu’s penalty be distributed by the Fair Work Ombudsman to the employees to partially rectify them.
Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said taking action to improve compliance levels in the horticulture industry remained a priority for the regulator.
“The Fair Work Ombudsman discovered these underpayments during the Harvest Trail Inquiry which was aimed at improving compliance with workplace laws across the horticulture industry,” Parker said.
“The horticulture sector employs a significant number of vulnerable workers and it is important that we take actions to ensure that they are receiving their full lawful wages and entitlements. We continue to monitor employers along the harvest trail and any workers with concerns should contact us.”
