A “contemptuous disregard” for Australian workplace law results in a record fine for a 7-Eleven franchise.
Federal Circuit Court judge Michael Jarrett has imposed $408,348 in penalties against a 7-Eleven franchisee that “systematically exploited” its employees and attempted to frustrate an investigation by the Fair Work Ombudsman into the suspected underpayments of more than $82,000 in underpayments and by attempting to conceal the position by falsifying payment records.
The Brisbane franchise was investigated by the FWO as part of an ongoing wider investigation into the practices 7-Eleven franchisees arising from concerns regarding underpayments of wages, poor accounting practices and the exploitation of foreign employees.
When ordering the penalties against this 7-Eleven franchisee, Judge Jarrett reflected on the “contemptuous disregard of Australian workplace laws” exhibited by the franchisee and the attempts he made to disguise his non-compliance from the FWO investigation.
It was noted that the franchisee had sought to “absolve any responsibility for the remaining underpayments” and “failed to acknowledge the highly deceptive nature of the method by which he sought to record the payroll information”.
Accordingly Judge Jarrett imposed the highest penalty made to date against a 7-Eleven franchise together with back pay order for the balance of the outstanding.
Judge Jarrett sent a clear message that employers should be in no doubt that they have a positive duty to ensure that they comply with the minimum obligations which they owe to their employees under the law and that failure to do will be severely punished by the courts.
The full decision can be found at the link below.
Fair Work Ombudsman v Mai Pty Ltd & Anor [2016] FCCA 1481 (17 June 2016)