The operator of a Gold Coast hairdressing salon is set to face the Federal Circuit Court over the alleged underpayment of a number of its employees.
According to the Fair Work Ombudsman, Hala Dib, who operates a salon trading as Michael Dib Robina in the Coast’s Pacific Fair Shopping Centre, has been found to have underpaid three employees their adult apprentice minimum wage and part-time minimum wage entitlements owed under the Hair and Beauty Industry Award 2010 for work performed between April and May 2019.
Two of the employees worked as hairdressers and one employee was completing a hairdressing apprenticeship while another employee, who was aged 16 at the time and employed as a salon assistant, was not paid at all for work performed between June and July 2019, including her entitlements to the minimum wage for a junior employee and weekend penalty rates.
Two Compliance Notices have been issued against Dib, requiring her to calculate and back-pay the workers’ outstanding entitlements, but Dib is yet to comply with those orders.
The FWO is seeking penalties of up to $6300 per contravention against Dib for the two contraventions, as well as an order that she takes the action required by the Compliance Notices, which includes calculating and rectifying any underpayments in full for the employees, plus superannuation and interest.
A hearing in the Federal Circuit Court in Brisbane is set to be scheduled at a later date.
