The Federal Circuit Court has fined a former owner of the Crust pizza outlet in Maroubra $3825 for refusing to reimburse 8 underpaid workers.
The 8 delivery drivers and sales employees who worked for the former owner, Sotirios Theocharidis, were underpaid a total of $25,995 in 2013.
The underpayments were discovered by the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) when it audited the businesses as part of a campaign focussed on the fast food sector.
The FWO issued a Compliance Notice to Mr Theocharidis and his private company to request that the payments were rectified, however Mr Theocharidis failed to fulfill the obligations of the notice.
Judge Nick Nicholls found that Mr Theocharidis failed to pay back the workers despite the notice, the contravention was deliberate and he had been uncooperative with the FWO.
Judge Nicholls said the penalty should “serve as a general deterrent to others in the fast food industry, which is said to be ‘notorious’ for non-compliance with the standards required by the Fair Work Act.”
Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James said “we prefer to assist employers to rectify inadvertent non-compliance issues but we are prepared to take legal action against employers who refuse to co-operate.”
