One Hobart cafe facing court action after FWO swoop

Court action has started against one food business after a Fair Work Ombudsman crackdown on “cheap eats” precincts in Hobart found 35 in breach of workplace rules. DETAILS >>

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The owners of a Hobart cafe will face court in May following a snap audit of food businesses across Tasmania’s capital by the Fair Work Ombudsman.

The swoop recovered almost $600,000 in unpaid wages for workers in business across the city's popular food precincts – North Hobart, Salamanca/Battery Point and Constitution Dock.

Forty-five businesses were audited and 78 per cent were breaching workplace laws, the ombudsman said.

Of the 35 businesses in breach, 32 had underpaid workers – most commonly by not paying the minimum wage and casual loadings- and 24 had failed to meet pay slip and record-keeping requirements.

The $582,450 recovered in wages was owed to 376 workers. Those short-changed workers have now been back paid in amounts ranging from $868 for three workers at a Constitution Dock business to $150,905 for 55 employees in North Hobart.

Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said the unannounced audits were part of a national program also targeting cheap eat precincts in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth.

“Our intelligence-led activities have hit food precincts around the country because they commonly employ a high proportion of young and migrant workers who can be vulnerable to exploitation,” Ms Parker said.

The restaurant strip in Salamanca

“Food, restaurants and cafés sector are ongoing priorities.

“The FWO expects all employers to comply with workplace obligations and to use our range of free tools and resources if they need help. Any workers with concerns should contact us.”

On top of the 34 Compliance Notices issued, the FWO also issued 22 Infringement Notices which resulted in $30,030 in fines.

It has also instigated legal action in the Federal Circuit Court against the owners of a cafe at Salamanca after the audit found it had allegedly not complied with a compliance order made in July last year.

The FWO alleges the owners of the cafe, which was visited again in the recent audit of Hobart businesses, failed to comply with the earlier order issued to calculate and back-pay any minimum wage and public holiday underpayments from the period December, 2018-March 2020.

“It is also alleged that the company failed to make and keep employee records. Four of the employees were young workers and one was on a visa,” the FWO said.

The FWO is seeking penalties and the owners could be fined $33,300 if found guilty of the alleged Compliance Notice breach and $66,600 for the alleged record-keeping breach.

A directions hearing is listed in the Federal Circuit Court in Hobart on May 6.

Litigation is also being considered in relation to another Hobart business.

THE FWO said fast food, restaurants and café matters made up 50 per cent of its new litigations in the 2019-20 financial year.