A Springvale South electrical services business and its sole director have been fined for deliberately failing to back-pay two underpaid apprentices.
DB Richardson Trading Pty Ltd, which was trading as ‘Electrafi’, and its director Desmond Brian Richardson had allegedly failed to obey a Fair Work Inspector’s compliance notice to recompense the workers.
The pair allegedly paid below minimum wages between 2020 and 2021.
One of the workers aged 20 to 21 was paid just $100 for approximately five months of casual work and four months of full-time work, the Fair Work Ombudsman alleged.
A 19-year-old worker was paid just $3250 for three months of casual work and seven months of part-time work.
Federal Circuit and Family Court judge Amanda Mansini found that the workers, being apprentices, were “naturally disposed” to “greater vulnerability”.
The “degree of underpayment and consequential loss” suffered by the workers was serious, noting that they remained unpaid, Judge Mansini said.
Judge Mansini found the failure to comply with the Compliance Notice was deliberate.
“It is important that the penalty be imposed at a level sufficient to discourage such contraventions being treated by employers in the electrical industry as just another cost of doing business,” Judge Mansini said.
Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said business operators that fail to act on Compliance Notices faced court-imposed penalties on top of having to back-pay workers.
“Protecting vulnerable workers, like young workers, continues to be a priority for the FWO.
“The underpayments in this case were significant and we have now secured court orders to force the employer to make back-payment, plus penalties to deter this occurring again.”
DB Richardson Trading Pty Ltd was fined $13,320 and Mr Richardson $1998.
The company was also ordered to calculate and back-pay the workers’ full entitlements including superannuation and interest.
