Soma Kitchen in Fremantle Western Australia has been hit with $21,924 in penalties for breaching the Fair Work Act.
The Fair Work Ombudsman issued a compliance notice requiring the company to calculate and back-pay entitlements to a former employee, however Soma Kitchen and company director Giancarlo Daniele failed to do so.
Soma Kitchen was investigated after the former employee requested assistance last year, alleging they had been paid just $200 for 146 hours of work.
The matter was heard in the Federal Circuit Court which resulted in Daniele receiving a $3,654 penalty and Soma Kitchen Pty Ltd receiving a fine of $18,270.
Judge Christopher Kendall found that when a Fair Work inspector followed up Daniele about the compliance notice, he said the notice was “sitting on my desk to action. I might do it today”.
Judge Kendall also said Daniele and Soma Kitchen had shown a “complete disregard for their legal obligations” and shown “no contrition, taken no corrective action and have demonstrated a lack of cooperation throughout the entire period in which the (FWO) has been engaging with them”.
The Court has ordered Soma Kitchen to back-pay the worker’s outstanding entitlements in full plus interest.
Image credit: Soma Kitchen