The husband-and-wife operators of two Vietnamese eateries in Adelaide are set to face legal action for allegedly underpaying workers over $400,000.
The charges have been levelled against Viet Quoc Mai, trustee for the Viet Quoc Mai Family Trust and operator of the ‘Viet’ restaurant in Adelaide’s Rundle Mall and a food court outlet in the Chinatown precinct, as well as his wife Huong Le, who is a manager at the businesses.
The regulator has alleged that the couple, both of Vietnamese background, underpaid 36 workers, mostly Vietnamese international students aged under 25, a total of $407,546 between January 2018 and September 2021. Five of the workers were juniors aged from 18 to 20 at the time.
Individual alleged underpayments range from $74 to $58,592, with 15 of the employees being allegedly underpaid more than $10,000.
Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said the litigation highlighted that any individuals or companies who allegedly commit serious contraventions will be found out and called out.
“The alleged systemic pattern and deliberate nature of the underpayments, providing of false records to frustrate an investigation, and the significant number of breaches in this matter are alarming,” Booth said. “Employers who allegedly exploit their workers and attempt to mislead inspectors will be found out and risk facing significant penalties.”
Fair Work Inspectors discovered the underpayments when auditing the eateries as part of surprise inspections of restaurants, cafés and fast food outlets in Adelaide in April 2021, during which they discovered widespread underpayment of entitlements under the Restaurant Industry Award 2010, Restaurant Industry Award 2020, and Fast Food Industry Award 2010, and other breaches of the Fair Work Act.
It was found that the workers’ wages were paid using two different hourly rates – a combination of a variable flat hourly rate paid to their bank accounts, between $16 and $26.90, and a flat hourly rate of $15 cash-in-hand. Viet was said to have added up the number of hours an employee worked in the fortnight and would pay some hours using the bank transfer rate, and then pay the worker cash for the remaining hours in the pay period. He also made unlawful deductions from workers’ wages for costs associated with leaving a fridge open over the weekend, breaking a door, and incorrectly charging a customer.
It is also alleged that Viet and Le subjected the workers to a ‘strike’ system as punishment for making errors, and once a worker had six ‘strikes’ against their name they were unlawfully required to buy food and/or beverages for Viet, Le and any staff working at the time.
Viet also allegedly failed to provide payslips to the workers and failed to make certain records, and knowingly made false or misleading records and provided these to workers. He also provided inspectors almost 100 payslips which all failed to show the cash payments, and some of which showed workers had been paid higher rates and had worked fewer hours, when that was not the case. Following the inspectors’ site visit, Viet also allegedly instructed workers to lie to inspectors and delete evidence.
If found guilty of the serious contraventions, Viet and Le each face penalties of up to $126,000 or $133,200 per contravention. For the other alleged contraventions, each face penalties of up to $12,600 or $13,320 per contravention. The Fair Work Ombudsman is also seeking a court order requiring Viet to rectify the underpayments, the vast majority of which allegedly remain unpaid more than two years after they were owed.
A directions hearing date in the Federal Court in Adelaide will be determined at a future date.
