Log in or become a subscriber

An employer has been fined after underpaying eight employees by $470k over 12 months, in breach of enforceable undertakings it had made only a year earlier.

The Federal Court heard that 85 Degrees Coffee Australia, which operated several retail stores and factories, hired the employees as "student interns", after its parent company arranged for a Taiwanese university's students to gain paid work experience.

The Fair Work Ombudsman alleged that between July 2016 and June 2017, the employer underpaid the eight employees amounts ranging from $50,213 to $58,249 each, and failed to keep employment records.

This occurred just a year after it had entered into an enforceable undertaking over its failure to pay some employees the correct minimum wage and other entitlements, and to keep records and issue payslips, the FWO said...