Crust pizza franchisee headed to court over underpayments
A Crust pizza franchisee is facing legal action after allegedly underpaying seven workers a total of $35,725.
The outlet’s owner is also accused of providing false records to Fair Work Ombudsman inspectors to hide the wage theft.
Crust pizza franchisee headed to court
Facing the Federal Circuit Court is Chern Ming “Rick” Lee and his company Desire Foods Pty Ltd.
They face maximum penalties of $12,600 and $63,000 respectively for each contravention of workplace laws.
The underpayments
Lee part-owns the Crust outlet at Cheltenham in Melbourne.
Fair Work accuses him of underpaying the seven pizza makers and delivery drivers between October 2013 and May 2016.
It’s alleged Lee failed to pay minimum hourly rates, casual loadings in addition to annual leave entitlements.
He also allegedly failed to pay a clothing allowance and penalty rates for night-time, weekend and public holiday work.
Further alleged breaches include failing to pay for meal breaks and failing to pay a transport allowance, failing to engage casual employees for a minimum of 3 hours, and also not issuing pay slips.
Finally, Fair Work accuses Lee of providing false records to Fair Work inspectors.
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Fast food rife with wage theft
Meanwhile, industrial advocate Miles Heffernan said the fast food industry is rife with wage theft.
“Four years ago, a discounting war broke out in the pizza industry where the major companies forced their franchisees to sell pizzas at below cost,” he said.
“Bosses couldn’t afford to pay proper wages as a result. It was a discount war where hard working employees became the casualties.”
Fair Work is seeking court orders for Desire Food to commission an independent audit of its workplace practices.
It also wants the court to order the company’s managers to undertake mandatory workplace relations training.
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