Melbourne fruit and vegie retailer stung with quarter of a million dollars in fines for underpaying workers

A fruit and veg business in Melbourne’s southeastern suburbs has been slapped with a whopping $250,000 fine, after it was revealed how overworked workers were underpaid for their labour.

A Melbourne grocer has been fined after paying workers as little as $10 an hour.

A Melbourne fruit and vegetable retailer has been hit with almost $250,000 in fines after it was caught underpaying workers and falsifying employment records.

Parkmore Fruit and Vege Market and Melbourne Marketplace was caught paying workers as little as $10 per hour and requiring employees to clock 75 hours each week.

Between 2012 and 2014, the company underpaid three workers more than $130,000.

A worker at the Chirnside business was paid just $10 per hour in cash for all the 130 hours per fortnight he was required to work.

Another worker, who was first employed at 16, was also paid $10 per hour.

A third victim who worked at a retail florist business operated by the company in Fountain Gate, Parkmore and Dandenong was also underpaid.

These workers have since been paid back by the company.

The Fair Work Ombudsman secured the steep penalties for the company, that runs outlets in Fountain Gate, Parkmore, Chirnside and Dandenong, through the Federal Circuit Court.

The court ordered the company to pay $200,000 in penalties.

Company director Stephen Fanous was ordered to pay another $30,000 after it he was found to have been involved in most of the company’s legal shortcomings.

Operations manager Etherah Louli was stung with a further $13,000 fine for his involvement in record-keeping and pay slips breaches.

It was hoped the strong penalties would send a message to other employers thinking of breaking the law.

Fair Work ombudsman Sandra Parker. Picture: Aaron Francis/The Australian

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“We have no tolerance for employers who think they can choose to pay workers a flat rate of pay that undercuts a worker’s minimum entitlements, or who try to hide it with unlawful ‘off the books’ practices,” Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said.

“Accurate and timely record keeping is a fundamental obligation of any employer and whenever we find false records we will consider court action, with increased penalties now available.”

Federal Circuit Court Judge John O’Sullivan said the conduct of senior managers was “serious” and the production of false or misleading records was “gravest” of the offences.

“The [company]’s failure to make proper records, keep[ing of] false employment records and failure to make timely provision of accurate pay slips to the employees, undermines the utility and fundamental objectives of the [Fair Work] Act,” Judge O’Sullivan said.

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