A judge has handed down the largest ever fine for work-exploitation - more than half a million dollars in total - in a case brought forward by the Fair Work Ombudsman.
Fares Ghazale, the former owner-operator of the Canteen Cuisine Cafe in Albury, was fined for "grossly exploitative" treatment of two Indian workers he underpaid, and underpaying another three Australian workers.
It’s a record penalty - $88,810 handed to Mr Ghazale and $444,100 to his company Rubee Enterprises Pty Ltd – that was handed down by Judge Tom Altobelli in the Federal Circuit Court this week.
The previous largest fine was $408,348 against a Brisbane 7-Eleven store involving migrant workers.
Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James described the penalties on Wednesday as "a big blow in the fight to stamp out deliberate exploitation of overseas workers in Australia".
"The minority of rogue employers in Australia intent on preying on the vulnerability of overseas workers should be warned that we will do everything in our power to pursue you and hold you to account," she said in a press release.
The court found Mr Ghazale underpaid three Australian employees at Canteen Cuisine Café, which closed in 2014. A waitress was underpaid $11,273, a cook was underpaid $8946, and an apprentice cook $6766.
He also imposed an illegal cashback scheme on two Indian workers in their late 20s, Senju Francis and Sunil Badhan, under the threat of violence and cancelling their visas, the court found.
Both men, who are currently in Australia, had been employed by Mr Ghazale as cooks.
In Mr Francis's affidavit evidence, he said Mr Ghazale told him: "If anything happens to my business, I will kill you. If you complain to anyone, I will kill you and cancel your visa."
Mr Badhan told the court that Mr Ghazale had threatened to cancel his visa if he didn't repay significant portions of his wages.
Mr Badhan gave affidavit evidence that Mr Ghazale had said: "If you want your visa, you do it [repay me]. If you do not want it, I will call my lawyer tomorrow and he will take the visa application away."
When Mr Badhan didn't make a payment in May 2014, Mr Ghazale dragged him by the collar and told him: "You need to pay me $500 per week" before attempting to punch Mr Badhan.
The incident was reported to the Albury police.
When Mr Ghazale recruited the two Indian men, he promised them about $50,000 a year for 38-hour weeks, plus penalty rates and allowances. But the court found Mr Badhan was paid a flat rate of $1000 and Mr Francis $830 per week for working 60 hours per week including on the weekends, both payments under the legal minimum.
But Mr Ghazale told Mr Francis that he could only keep $200 and Mr Badhan that he could only keep $300. The salaries left them struggling to buy even their groceries, the court heard.
In Justice Altobelli's judgment, he described the cashback operation as "grossly exploitative".
He said it was a "deliberate strategy of deceit to hide the ongoing contraventions of workplace laws" and that Mr Ghazale had "deliberately exploited the imbalance of power between sponsor and visa holder in order to achieve financial gain".
The employees faced having to leave Australia within 28 days if Mr Ghazale withdrew support for their visas. Mr Ghazale's company sponsored Mr Francis on a 457 skilled worker visa and he was in Australia with his Indian wife.
Mr Badhan was on a bridging visa while his 457 visa application pended.
Justice Altobelli said the case should remind migrant workers in Australia to abide by the country's laws.
He said it was an "important to send a message to employers of migrant workers in Australia that the failure to afford the Australian safety net of minimum entitlements to migrant workers will not be tolerated."
Both men have 457 visas, a spokesperson for the Fair Work Ombudsman told SBS News.
