NT company Kassiou Constructions Pty Ltd hit with $44k penalty

A disbanded company - and one of its directors - has been ordered to fork out after refusing to back-pay one of its long-serving employees. Details.

Louis and Ilias Kassiou. Picture: Facebook

The Fair Work Ombudsman has secured $44k in penalties after a now-liquidated construction company refused to back-pay one of its workers.

Kassiou Constructions Pty Ltd, which was based in the suburb of Winnellie, was handed a penalty of $37,560, with one of its company directors, Ilias Kassiou, given a $6,573 penalty.

The fines, imposed by the Federal Circuit and Family Court, come after a lengthy dispute, starting in September 2023 when a Fair Work inspector issued the company a compliance notice.

The notice in-question directed Kassiou Constructions to calculate and back-pay one of its ex-employees who served the company as a full-time labourer between 2012 and 2021.

The worker had not been paid accrued but untaken annual leave owed to him.

For his involvement in the contravention, Mr Kassiou was also penalised.

Judge Anastasis Liveris said the employee had been left in the dark “for more than four years” after their employment ended.

“I consider the circumstances of this matter to be serious,” he said.

“(The worker) was a long-serving employee for Kassiou Constructions, which generally employed a small number of people.”

Fair Work Ombudsman, Anna Booth says the finding is a warning to other employers who “fail to act” on such matters. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Judge Liveris said the penalty needed to deter other employers from similar conduct.

“The penalty should be enough that it is not seen as ‘the cost of doing business’.”

Following the verdict, Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth vowed to hold employers to account.

“When compliance notices are not followed, we will continue to take legal action to protect employees,” she said.
“Employers who fail to act on these notices risk substantial penalties in addition to being ordered to back-pay workers.”

Originally published as NT company Kassiou Constructions Pty Ltd hit with $44k penalty