18 December 2024

The Fair Work Ombudsman has secured $67,000 in court penalties against a Queensland-based company specialising in industrial equipment instrument calibration and its director.

The Federal Circuit and Family Court has imposed a $56,000 penalty against ABMENG Pty Ltd, a business which was based on the Sunshine Coast and operated in various locations nationally including Melbourne and Perth, and a $11,000 penalty against the company’s sole director, Jay Parker.

The penalties were imposed in response to ABMENG failing to comply with a Notice to Produce records and a Compliance Notice requiring it to calculate and back-pay entitlements owing to three workers it had employed variously in Melbourne and Perth between March and July 2021.

Mr Parker was involved in the contraventions.

With ABMENG having only partially back-paid the workers after the Fair Work Ombudsman commenced litigation, the Court has also ordered the company to back-pay the workers the $12,003 still owed to them, plus superannuation and interest.

ABMENG Pty Ltd operated as ABM (AUS) Pty Ltd when the Fair Work Ombudsman commenced its proceedings in January 2024.

Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said business operators that fail to act on lawful requests need to be aware they can face penalties in court on top of having to back-pay workers.

“The substantial penalties in this case are welcomed against respondents who have failed to pay the majority of what the three workers were owed more than two years after the Compliance Notice was issued,” Ms Booth said.

“When Compliance Notices and Notices to Produce are not followed, we are prepared to take legal action to ensure we can fully investigate matters and ensure workers receive their lawful entitlements.

“Any employees with concerns about their pay or entitlements should contact us for free advice and assistance.”

The FWO investigated after receiving requests for assistance from the affected workers.

The workers were engaged in full-time customer service, sales and engineering roles.

A Fair Work Inspector issued a Compliance Notice to the company in August 2022 in response to the workers being underpaid minimum wages, owed under the Clerks Private Sector Award 2020, Miscellaneous Award 2020 and the Manufacturing and Associated Industries and Occupations Award 2020.

The workers were also not paid their accrued but untaken annual leave entitlements at the end of their employment, owed under the Fair Work Act’s National Employment Standards.

ABMENG also breached the Fair Work Act by failing to comply with a Notice to Produce, which required it to provide documents to the inspector during the investigation.

Judge Allyson Ladhams found the company’s conduct was “serious” and “deliberate” and that ABMENG’s failure to comply with the Notice to Produce “frustrated” the investigation process.

Judge Ladhams found that there had been “little meaningful action” to back-pay the employees, with 80 per cent of what the workers were owed remaining outstanding more than two years after the Compliance Notice was issued.

“There is a need to ensure that recipients of statutory notices issued by regulators are aware that a failure to comply will not be tolerated and therefore penalties imposed in this matter should be sufficiently high to impress upon other employers the importance of complying with their legal obligations to comply with statutory notices,” Judge Ladhams said.

Judge Ladhams said the penalty needed to provide a “sting or burden”, noting that Mr Parker had had previous involvement in contraventions of workplace laws.

In 2008, the Workplace Ombudsman secured a $10,000 penalty in court against Mr Parker and a $50,000 penalty against a company he was the sole director of, Parker Engineering Corporation (Australia) Pty Ltd, for underpaying workers more than $14,000.

Employers and employees can visit www.fairwork.gov.au or call the Fair Work Infoline on 13 13 94 for free advice and assistance about their rights and obligations in the workplace. An interpreter service is available on 13 14 50. Employees can also seek information from their employer or their union, if they are a member.

The FWO provides a free online course to help employers understand what a Compliance Notice is and how to respond if they get one. The Compliance Notice course, among a suite of free interactive courses on offer for employers, managers and employees, is available in our online learning centre.

Small businesses can find targeted resources at the Small Business Showcase.