Australia’s Fair Work Ombudsman has secured AUD 192,995 (USD 129,735) in penalties in court against the former operators of a café in the Perth Central Business District after they deliberately falsified wage records.

The Federal Circuit and Family Court has imposed an AUD 168,415 (USD 113,211) penalty against Quickpoint Pty Ltd, which formerly operated a Japanese café trading as ‘Shimizu Harbour Town’, and an AUD 24,580 (USD 16,532) penalty against the company’s sole director Augustine Lawrence Chia.

The penalties were imposed after Quickpoint and Chia admitted breaching record-keeping and pay slip laws, including by knowingly making false pay slips and time-and-wages records and providing them to the Fair Work Ombudsman during an investigation.

Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said employers who use false records to try to frustrate an investigation into underpayment allegations will face serious consequences.

The Ombudsman investigated after receiving a request for assistance from a worker and issued Quickpoint with a Notice to Produce documents.

In response, Quickpoint, on two separate occasions provided Fair Work inspectors with falsified records purporting to show that Quickpoint had paid two employees at the Shimizu Harbour Town café significantly higher rates than was the case.

Judge Christopher Kendall also found that there had been a ‘blatant attempt by (Quickpoint and Chia) to manipulate or threaten their employees with their jobs’ should they not support their ‘concerted attempt to deceive’ the Ombudsman.

Quickpoint, through Chia, pressured the two employees to tell inspectors they had been paid award rates, despite the company having paid them only AUD 15 to AUD 16 per hour.

Judge Kendall said the company deprived the employees of their right to be properly remunerated and the falsified records were “an attempt to cover up this dishonest conduct when records had to be produced.”