A Darwin businessman has been penalised $25,412 for exploiting overseas workers, paying some of them nothing and the rest less than $5 an hour for their work on a mango farm.
The Fair Work Ombudsman secured the penalty against Vinai Chaipom in a legal action commenced the Federal Circuit Court in September last year. Mr Chaipom admitted underpaying 12 overseas workers.
Mr Chaipom underpaid visa holders from Germany, Italy, France, the Netherlands, the UK and Taiwan a total of $35,630 in just two months in 2015 when he ran his business, The Mango Shop, sourcing fruit from farms and selling them via a roadside stall.
According to the FWO, Mr Chaipom paid four of the workers nothing, while paying others between $2.68 and $4.77 an hour through what it says was sham contracting showing the exploited workers as contractors.
As casual employees, they were entitled to be paid minimum hourly rates ranging from $19.45 to $21.61 under the Horticulture Award.
The individual underpayments of workers ranged between $648 and $5119.
Many of the backpackers approached Mr Chaipom for work after seeing online ads. Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James said the backpackers were keen to earn money to support their travels and become eligible to apply for a second year on their 417 visas by satisfying the requirement to undertake 88 days’ specified paid work in a designated regional area and in certain industries in their first year.
The 417 Visa-holder Inquiry found the requirement to do 88 days of specified, regional paid work to qualify for a second-year visa was unintentionally creating an environment where some unscrupulous operators were exploiting overseas workers.
News Corp Australia reported that Chaipom had officially changed his name from William Nicholas O’Donnell in December 2015.
O’Donnell was jailed for assault and deprivation of liberty after advertising himself online as a guide and forcing a woman traveller to watch him perform an indecent act in a car in 2014.
On the tour, he insisted one of the women sleep in his tent and then spooned her naked against her wishes. When she threatened to leave, he threatened the group with a knife and demanded money, Herald Sun reported.
