More than $5 million in fines have been dished out after a NSW children’s clothing store was found to have exploited “vulnerable” migrant workers by underpaying wages and denying them super.
Blue Sky Kids Land was found to have underpaid four Chinese migrant workers by $131,920 in total.
The underpayments ranged between $14,744 to $45,140 in individual wages.
The four women, who spoke very little English, had been underpaid the minimum wage, casual loading, and penalty rates between October 2015 and June 2018.
They also did not receive super payments over the same period.
Two of the workers were underpaid their overtime rates, while another was not paid out the annual leave they were owed when their employment ended.
”These substantial penalties highlight that exploiting vulnerable migrant workers is particularly reprehensible conduct that will not be tolerated in Australia,” Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said.
“We treat cases involving underpayments and use of false or misleading records impacting migrant workers particularly seriously, because we are conscious that they can be vulnerable due to factors such as a lack of awareness of their entitlements or a reluctance to complain.”
One of the women told the court that she and her husband had struggled to pay their mortgage and chose to defer starting a family as they couldn’t afford to on the illegally low pay she was receiving.
The company had stores in NSW and Canberra.
Fair Work also said Gu had obstructed their investigation and had ordered a Canberra store be closed so the inspectors could not conduct a site visit.
Justice Anna Katzmann found that all the breaches committed by the pair were deliberate and serious.
“What is more, the contraventions occurred in circumstances in which the respondents either knew or were wilfully blind to their legal obligations,” Katzmann said.
She also said that evidence suggests there are several other companies run by the pair, who have also been the subject of underpayment complaints.
“This evidence suggests that, even while this proceeding was on-foot, Mr Gu and Fei Yang were continuing to underpay staff,” Katzmann said.
The company was fined $4,299,000 while director Guo Dong Gu was hit with a $760,000 penalty.
Another company director Fei Rong Yang was issued with a $43,000 penalty.
A further $44,100 fine was issued against a former company operated by Gu and Yang called Q Fay Trading Pty Ltd, which imported clothing to Blue Sky Kids Land.
The same company had previously been issued a notice to correct non-compliance in 2006, Fairwork said.
