Backpacker ‘paid $1.35 an hour’ for four weeks’ work, claims Fair Work Ombudsman

A SMALL-BUSINESS owner has strongly hit back at claims he paid a young Italian backpacker less than $2 an hour for four weeks’ work.

Hiker woman with backpack enjoying landscape of autumn mountains, rear view

A SMALL-BUSINESS owner has strongly hit back at claims he paid a young Italian backpacker less than $2 an hour for four weeks’ work, saying the Fair Work Ombudsman has picked up on the “malicious” complaint like a “dog with a bone”.

The FWO is taking action against Harold William Jackson, who owns and operates Harold’s Glass and Hardware and the adjacent Rhythm & Vines cafe in Queenstown, Tasmania.

The woman, aged in her 20s, allegedly agreed to work for Mr Jackson in September 2013 after he promised to sign off on the second year of her working holiday visa.

According to documents filed in the Federal Circuit Court today, she was paid just $270 for four weeks’ work — the equivalent of $1.35 an hour.

The FWO alleges that Mr Jackson also underpaid four other backpackers from the UK and Japan between July 2013 and February 2014. For periods ranging from one week to four months, they received payments equivalent to rates of between $2.43 and $5.38 an hour, the FWO claims.

Mr Jackson engaged the backpackers, all aged in their 20s, to perform duties including sales, cleaning, labouring and construction. He allegedly told Fair Work inspectors that the backpackers were “guests” or “volunteers”, rather than employees.

The main street of Queenstown on the west coast of Tasmania.

The FWO says they were entitled to be paid more than $22 an hour for normal hours and up to $32 an hour for weekend work. Together, FWO alleges the five backpackers were underpaid a total of $42,985. Individual underpayments allegedly range from $1026 to $19,097.

The watchdog investigated the matter after receiving a complaint from one of the backpackers. Two of the backpackers were recruited through ads on Gumtree stating “88 day second year work visa sign off is available”.

The 417 temporary visa allows young people to holiday and work in Australia for up to two years. To be eligible for a second year, 417 visa holders must undertake 88 days of specified work in a designated regional area and in certain industries in their first year.

‘COMPLETELY UNTRUE’

However, Mr Jackson strongly denies the allegations. He told news.com.au the claims, arising from “long, ugly story”, are “completely untrue” and he will defend the action in court.

He said the backpacker maliciously lodged the complaint when he refused to sign her work visa. “She said to me she needed someone to sign off her 88 days for her two-year visa,” he said. “I asked when her visa expired and when I looked at my calendar, I told her I couldn’t give her 88 days. She said, ‘Yes you can, I won’t tell anyone.’”

Mr Jackson says the woman only stayed for two-and-a-half weeks, not four as the FWO claims. “When I refused to sign her visa she got bloody nasty. She refused to leave — I had to involve the police to remove her. The next thing I know she’s lodged this bloody complaint. Now that Fair Work have it they’re like a dog with a bone and it’s going to cost me a fortune to defend it.”

417 visa holders must undertake 88 days of specified work in a designated regional area.

He says the FWO’s allegations that he underpaid four other workers were also completely false, and that he can prove they didn’t work the hours claimed. “Fair Work have just done this generalised canvas cover — they arrived on this date, they left on that date, therefore they worked every day in between. It’s utterly untrue.”

Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James said inspectors made “extensive efforts” to resolve with Mr Jackson without going to court but were unable to secure sufficient cooperation.

“Complaints from 417 visa-holders have increased significantly — and the Fair Work Ombudsman has recently changed its operational processes to focus on employees who most need our intervention,” Ms James said in a statement.

“While we have always had a strong focus in relation to visa-holders, we now give these vulnerable employees priority through the Overseas Workers’ Team — and have invested significant resources in compliance and litigation activities.”

Between 2011-12 and 2013-14, complaints from visa-holders to the FWO increased by 165 per cent from 909 to 2625. Complaints from 417 visa-holders were up 382 per cent from 216 to 1042.

Between July 2011 and June 2014, the FWO dealt with 5633 complaints from visa-holders and recovered more than $3.2 million in outstanding wages and entitlements for them.

The FWO is seeking a court order for Mr Jackson to back pay the workers in full. He faces penalties of up to $10,200 per contravention.

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