A national company which holds the principal contract to provide cleaning services to Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium has been fined for underpaying staff.
The Fair Work Ombudsman secured $332,964 in penalties after taking Quayclean Australia, and two companies it subcontracted, to court.
The penalties follow an investigation by the workplace regulator, which found the companies underpaid 25 stadium cleaners nearly $100,000 in 2017.
The regulator was first tipped off by the underpayment allegation through its online anonymous tip-off tool.
Judge Caroline Kirton found that all respondents had “deliberately contravened workplace laws”.
Quayclean Australia Pty Ltd was hit with the largest fine of $174,420.
Sub-contractor company Ranvel Pty Ltd was penalised $114,480, with its owner-director, Indika Udara Lokubalasuriya, also fined $15,552.
Harjot Singh, who was a director of Melbourne-based company Lionheart Workforce Pty Ltd, which entered liquidation in September 2019, was penalised $28,512.
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Kirton noted Quayclean had admitted knowing the funds it paid Lionheart and Ranvel were insufficient to enable the companies to comply with the award.
Acting Fair Work Ombudsman Kristen Hannah said the regulator welcomed the substantial penalties.
“Workers employed in the cleaning sector are low-paid, often vulnerable migrant workers with limited awareness of their workplace rights,” she said.
“We treat deliberate underpayments of such workers particularly seriously.”
The affected cleaners have been back-paid in full.
Quayclean has been contacted for comment.
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