The men behind a Sydney carwash chain that shortchanged hundreds of vulnerable workers have been fined a total of $90,000.
The Crystal Carwash Cafe was slapped with a $70,000 fine and its two executives, director Anthony Sahade and manager Peter Khouri, were fined $10,000 each in the Federal Court on Thursday.
An investigation by the Fair Work Ombudsman revealed more than 300 carwash employees had missed out on their full hourly wages and overtime entitlements between January and September, 2010.
The Ombudsman alleged the operators had set up a series of "sham" companies which purported to employ the car-washers and that these front companies had confused employees, most of whom came from non-English speaking backgrounds.
"In my view, the employees concerned were particularly vulnerable given the asymmetrical bargaining power that existed between them and the respondents," Justice Robert Buchanan said.
"The respondents took advantage of that circumstance ... I see no evidence of contrition."
Justice Buchanan also dismissed the carwash operators' argument that they had made good on all underpayments before court proceedings commenced, saying these back-payments "were made only after the applicant had begun to investigate and when it must have been apparent that resistance was probably futile".
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