Record fine for sushi chain's 'audacious' worker rorts

Record fines have been dished out for the “audacious” underpayment of migrant workers by a once-sprawling Aussie sushi chain.

Sushi Bay group companies were ordered to pay fines totalling $13.7 million by the Federal Court on Monday after it was revealed workers were deliberately denied entitlements including penalty rates and annual leave payments.

Company boss Yi Jeong “Rebecca” Shin was personally ordered to pay a penalty of $1.6 million to the Fair Work Ombudsman, with the funds to be distributed to the underpaid workers.

Workers at the Sushi Bay companies, most of which are now in liquidation, were underpaid more than $650,000 with 163 employees suffering losses ranging from around $50 to just under $84,000, according to court documents.

Ms Shin was the sole director and chief executive of the Sushi Bay group, which operated stores in NSW, the ACT and the Northern Territory.

The penalties are the highest ever secured by the Fair Work Ombudsman, eclipsing the $10.34 million against the Commonwealth Bank and CommSec earlier this year for underpaying employees more than $16 million.

Federal Court judge Anna Katzmann earlier found Sushi Bay failed to pay its workers minimum award rates, casual loadings, annual leave loadings, overtime rates and Saturday, Sunday and public holiday penalty rates.

It also failed to pay annual leave entitlements on termination for accrued but untaken annual leave.

Some employees were also unreasonably required to pay part of their wages back to their employers while the companies made false records in an attempt to cover up the conduct.

“The overwhelming majority of the contraventions were committed deliberately and intentionally,” Justice Katzmann said in her judgment.

“The respondents’ conduct was both calculated and audacious.

“This is yet another case of the exploitation of immigrant workers and a shameless but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to conceal it.”

The judgment noted most of the underpaid workers were on temporary visas and just over half were under the age of 25.

Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said deliberately and repeatedly exploiting workers, including vulnerable migrant workers, was “reprehensible” conduct that would not be tolerated in Australia.

“We treat cases involving underpayments, cash back and other record-keeping breaches impacting migrant workers particularly seriously, as we know that they can be vulnerable due to factors such as a lack of awareness of their entitlements or a reluctance to complain,” she said.

Ms Booth said taking action to protect vulnerable workers and improving compliance in the fast food, restaurants and cafe sectors was a priority for the ombudsman.

In March, the Sushi Bay group was ordered by the court to repay various sums representing the amounts their employees had been underpaid plus interest.

It was also told to make superannuation contributions on the ordinary-time components of those underpayments.

The liquidator responded that as the companies were being wound up they could not comply and the orders had been “recorded on the listings of creditors”.