House Of Hoi An: Keerthi Hapugasdeniya, former Windsor Vietnamese restaurant operators face court battle
It was linked to Vietnamese cooking royalty, but this Windsor restaurant has been dethroned amid claims of staff underpayments.
Inner East
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A shuttered Vietnamese restaurant with links to an overseas cooking school could be fined hundreds of thousands of dollars for allegedly underpaying foreign staff.
The Fair Work Ombudsman has commenced legal action against operators of Windsor’s former House Of Hoi An restaurant, and the company’s sole operator Keerthi Hapugasdeniya, in the Federal Circuit Court.
It claims three former employees, visa holders from Vietnam and Sri Lanka, were underpaid entitlements between 2016 and 2019.
The inspector believes the three employees — two cooks and a food and beverage attendant — were paid below the minimum wage and also did not receive adequate casual loadings, annual leave entitlements and penalty rates.
It also alleged the company breached record-keeping and pay slip laws.
The inspector issued a compliance notice in October 2019, which asked the company to calculate and backpay the workers’ entitlements, and claimed it made several follow-ups to address the matters.
The restaurant was located on Green St and was linked with well-known Vietnamese restauranter Trinh Diem Vy, who runs a cooking school, hotel and a chain of restaurants in Hoi An.
It is permanently closed according to its Google listing, and the last Instagram post promoting the Melbourne restaurant was in October 2019.
The company faces penalties of up to $63,000, and up to $12,600 for Mr Hapugasdeniya, for each offence.
The inspector also wants all underpayments rectified, along with super and interest.
Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said compliance notices were “important tools used by inspectors if they form a belief that an employer has breached workplace laws”.
“Where employers do not comply with our requests, we will take appropriate action to protect employees,” she said.
A directions hearing is scheduled in the Federal Circuit Court on February 18.
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