A former Perth restaurant operator is facing Court for allegedly asking a visa holder worker to repay thousands of dollars of his wages. Khondker Riyadh Hasan, a Bangladeshi national was later dismissed after he lodged a workers’ compensation claim for a back injury sustained at work.
Mr. Kumar who was the owner of Bricklane British Curry House in Leederville has had legal action commenced in the Federal Circuit Court along with his company Bikaner India Pty Ltd.
The Fair Work Ombudsman is alleging that Mr. Kumar who had sponsored Mr Hasan's 457 visa to work as a cook was underpaid over $38,000.
It is alleged Mr Hasan, then aged in his late 30s, was contracted on an annual salary of $54,000 when he was recruited from Bangladesh in 2015. He was allegedly made to work six or seven days a week, often performing more than 50 hours work per week.
Mr. Kumar allegedly forced him to pay back $434 in cash from his flat pay of $1634 per fortnight.
Fair Work Ombudsman also alleges that Mr. Kumar dismissed the cook after he filed a workers’ compensation claim in June last year following an injury at the workplace. Mr. Kumar contacted the Department of Immigration and Border Protection to inform that Mr. Hasan's employment had been terminated.
The FWO says the dismissal contravened the workplace laws because it amounted to adverse action against the worker for exercising his right.
It is alleged that the unlawful cashback arrangement and the underpayment of contractual and other minimum entitlements led to Mr Hasan being short-changed a total of $38,822.
Mr. Kumar faces maximum penalties of up to $10,800 for each of the 13 contraventions and his company Bikaner India faces penalties of up to $54,000 per contravention.
Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James says the incidences of pay back schemes are concerning.
“It is hard to see a legitimate reason why an employer would require employees to be regularly paying back significant parts of their wage,” Ms. James said.
“I am concerned that cashback schemes are being utilised by unscrupulous operators in an attempt to get around record keeping laws and disguise serious underpayment of wages”.
