Hello Juice Pacific Werribee fined more than $200k for staff underpayments

Teenagers are among workers underpaid thousands of dollars by a Werribee business, with a court judge levelling a scathing warning to other employers from “linguistically diverse backgrounds” who may be tempted to break the rules.

Staff at Hello Juice outlets in Pacific Werribee and Westfield Geelong were underpaid a total $38,458, a Fair Work Ombudsman investigation found.

The former owners of two juice bars in Werribee and Geelong have been fined more than $200,000 for underpaying staff.

In a scathing comment, Federal Circuit Court Judge John O’Sullivan said it was “too common” for employers who spoke English as a second language to plead ignorance when they broke Victoria’s workplace laws.

Ten junior staff aged under 18 were among the 27 employees ripped off by their former employers while working at Hello Juice bars in Pacific Werribee and Westfield Geelong.

Skypic Group Pty Ltd and Skypac Group Pty Ltd, which operated the two juice outlets, were fined a total of $242,313 after charges were laid by the Fair Work Ombudsman.

Employees in Werribee were short-changed a total of $23,902 while staff at the Geelong store were underpaid $14,555, according to a statement released by the ombudsman’s office on Thursday.

Hua Gong, the former general manager of both stores, was also fined an additional $34,616.

The underpayments occurred in 2017.

Both stores are now run by different owners and the staff have been back-paid.

In handing down his ruling, Federal Circuit Court Judge John O’Sullivan, speaking generally, said employers could not expect leniency if they didn’t know the rules.

“It is also an illustration of an all too common a phenomena where employers from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds who exploit workers … then come before the court and seek to rely on their own alleged ignorance of workplace laws or foreign cultural norms to mitigate any penalties that need to be applied when they are finally caught out,” he said.

Judge O’Sullivan also said the former owners of Hello Juice had been warned about noncompliance but had continued to deliberately break the law.

Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said the penalties levelled at Hello Juice’s former owners showed serious consequences applied to those who didn’t respect employee’s basic wage entitlements.

“The (Fair Work Ombudsman) expects all employers to comply with workplace obligations and they should access our free tools and resources if they need assistance. Any employees with queries about pay should contact us,” Ms Parker said.

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