Little Cupcakes: CBD sweet shop fined nearly $50K for underpaying foreign staff
A cult cupcake chain has copped big fines after it underpaid more than 30 staff, including one worker owed more than $10,000 in entitlements.
Inner East
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A cupcake chain with stores in the CBD has been fined almost $50,000 after it underpaid foreign workers from Asian countries.
Little Cupcakes operators Shri Krishna Guru Pty Ltd were fined $41,580 in the Federal Circuit Court after a Fair Work Ombudsman audit found 35 workers were underpaid between January 2018 and February 2019.
The company’s director, Shreyansh Dharmesh Shah. also received a $8316 individual fine.
The chain has two stores on Degraves and Williams streets in the CBD and a baking facility in Armadale.
The ombudsman uncovered the underpayments during a blitz of unannounced visits to restaurants and cafes on CBD dining strips, which began in December 2018.
Judge Karl Blake penalised Mr Shah and the company after an audit found $57,169.69 in wages were not paid to the 35 staff members, which the company has since paid back.
One of the affected team members was owed $10,960.77, while 10 of them were aged under 21 and held foreign visas from countries including South Korea, India and Indonesia.
Judge Blake said Mr Shah and the company had been involved in “deliberate, sustained, serious breaches” relating to record-keeping and pay slip laws.
He said many of the breaches involved casual loadings not being paid correctly to staff as per the 2010 Fast Food Industry Award.
“There is significant noncompliance by employers in the takeaway food services industry and there is a need to deter noncompliance with workplace laws in that industry,” Judge Blake said.
Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said the underpayment of the young workers was “a particularly concerning feature of this matter and employers need to be aware there are serious consequences for such conduct”.
Little Cupcakes did not answer phone calls on Wednesday afternoon.
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