Cafe chain fined $475K for underpaying Taiwanese ‘interns’

A city cafe chain has copped one of the highest fines ever issued by the Fair Work ombudsman for paying its staff pocket change to work up to 70-hour weeks.

A Sydney cafe chain underpaid eight workers a whopping $430,000 in less than a year.

In the second largest penalty of its type, 85 Degrees Coffee Australia Pty Ltd has been fined $475,000 by the Federal Court for exploiting the “interns” who had come from Taiwan under a deal arranged by a company related to the café chain.

The students, from the Taipei City University of Science and Technology, were made to work up to 70 hours a week for between $1650 and $1750 a month from July 2016 to June 2017.

That equates to less than $6 an hour.

85 Degrees is a repeat offender, having entered into an enforceable undertaking with the Fair Work Ombudsman in 2015 after it underpaid other visa holders.

85 Degrees Cafe in Sydney has been fined $475K for underpaying eight staff.

Federal Court Justice Robert Bromwich said: “The contravening conduct itself was plainly deliberate.”

It is the fifth-highest overall penalty ever secured in a case brought by the Fair Work Ombudsman and its second-largest court penalty against a single company.

The company allegedly withheld $430,000 from its Taiwanese ‘interns’.

Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said: “The substantial penalty sends a clear message that the exploitative conduct we have seen in this matter will not be tolerated in any Australian workplace.”

“Employers must pay the lawful minimum pay rates that apply to all employees, for all hours worked, regardless of a worker’s nationality or visa status.”

The workers were back-paid last year after the FWO filed legal action against 85 Degrees.

The FWO investigation was triggered by a plea for help from the students.

Complaints from the underpaid staff drew the ombudsman’s attention, and the company was fined.

Ms Parker said: “Any workers with concerns about their pay or entitlements should contact us.”

Four of the students worked at an 85 Degrees cake factory in St Peters preparing and packing cakes and cleaning; two worked at the 85 Degrees bread factory in Hurstville making and packing bread products; one worked across the St Peters factory and the 85 Degrees café outlet in Hurstville and one worked at the 85 Degrees café outlet on George Street in the Sydney CBD.

The common thread among 85 Degrees Coffee’s directors is that they were either born in Taiwan or live there now.

The café chain is ultimately majority owned by a company registered in the Cayman Islands, records filed with the corporate regulator show.