Fair Work Commission blasts iMile Australia after managers detained in China following false fraud allegations
A company that delivers goods in Australia for Temu and Shein has been slammed by the Fair Work Commission after managers were interrogated by police for up to 30 hours.
Exclusive: Managers of the Australian arm of a home delivery giant used by Temu and Shein were recalled to China then interrogated by police for up to 30 hours at a time as part of a trumped-up fraud investigation, the Fair Work Commission has found.
Former iMile NSW operations boss Lina ‘Amelia’ Cao and her ex-colleague Xue Qing ‘Thomas’ Cai were detained by police in China on the same day in February this year, according to decision in their separate FWC cases.
The FWC recently ruled iMile Delivery & Logistic Pty Ltd unfairly dismissed Ms Cao, with Sydney-based commissioner Sarah McKinnon saying the company had engaged in “frankly disgraceful” behaviour by making serious fraud allegations against its worker without “proper foundation”.
In a decision published this week, Ms McKinnon said Ms Cao was directed to return to China by iMile in November last year then detained by police on February 17 “for approximately 30 hours in connection with allegations of criminal activity made against her by … iMile”.
The decision said police issued her with a 12-month overseas travel ban which prevented her from returning to Australia. No charges have been laid against Ms Cao in China or Australia.
Ms McKinnon said Ms Cao appeared to have been “dismissed in similar circumstances” to Mr Cai.
In June, a different FWC commissioner ordered an extension of time for Ms Cai to make an unfair dismissal claim due to “exceptional circumstances” after he gave evidence that his application had been delayed because he had been detained by police on February 17 in China.
Melbourne-based commissioner Oanh Thi Tran noted in her decision that “Mr Cai says that the reason for the delay was that he had been coerced to return to China in November 2024. He was then detained in the iMile China office on 17 February 2025 for eight hours, following which he was arrested and questioned by the Chinese police for 24 hours.
“He also says that he had to make appeals to (a) Chinese supervisory authority to remove an international travel ban that prevented him from returning to Australia. He says the respondent had arranged the travel ban to be imposed upon him,” Ms Tran said in her decision.
Mr Cai had said the detention caused him stress, anxiety and depression which, combined with the travel ban, delayed his application.
“I believe him,” Ms Tran said.
Ms Tran noted Ms Cao had earlier been granted an exceptional circumstances time extension by Ms McKinnon due to “significant distress and depression after being deceived into returning to China” as well as “detention and subsequent interrogation by Chinese police from 17 February 2025.”
Ms Cao was “interrogated” by Chinese authorities on four further occasions, Ms McKinnon said in her decision.
iMile brings packages ordered from Temu, Shein and Ali Express from Australian warehouses to customer’s homes. It is one of the cheapest ‘last-mile’ delivery companies. Based in Dubai, it has about 20,000 employees worldwide.
iMile was founded in 2017 and its shareholders include TikTok’s owner ByteDance.
Ms McKinnon said Ms Cao had been “doing her best” and acted reasonably under high levels of pressure.
“I reject as without foundation any suggestion that Ms Cao deliberately failed to follow company processes because of improper motives,” the commissioner said.
An iMile spokesman told this masthead the company accepted the FWC decision in Ms Cao’s case.
“iMile operates in 30 countries across the world, but its business in Australia is still quite new,” the spokesman said. “Ongoing compliance with local laws is extremely important to us.”
Know more? John.rolfe@news.com.au
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Originally published as Fair Work Commission blasts iMile Australia after managers detained in China following false fraud allegations
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