Gurmukh Dosanjh, a NSW blueberry farmer who employed dozens of overseas backpackers to pick his crop has been penalised $13,005 for serious record-keeping failures.
The Federal Circuit Court has imposed a penalty against the Sandy Beach farmer on the NSW Mid-North Coast, following legal action by the Fair Work Ombudsman.
Dosanjh's property was selected for auditing in 2014 as part of the Fair Work Ombudsman's national Harvest Trail project.
Fair Work inspectors discovered that records of 60 casual employees were incomplete.
Under workplace laws, employers must keep employment records for all employees, including basic personal details and details of pay rates and hours worked.
Dosanjh also breached workplace laws by failing to issue employees with payslips within one day of being paid and failing to have written piecework agreements in place for employees who were paid per-bucket.
Imposing the penalty, which is 75 percent of the possible maximum, Judge Tom Altobelli described the contraventions as "extensive".
"It is hard to imagine a more superficial or half-hearted attempt to comply with any standard of record keeping, let alone the statutory standard," Judge Altobelli said.
Dosanjh was required to pay the employees minimum rates as stipulated in the Horticulture Award.
Under workplace laws, employers can only pay piece rates if there is an agreement in writing signed by the employee.
Judge Altobelli found that Dosanjh's "minimalistic" record-keeping had made it impossible for the Fair Work Ombudsman to pursue him for underpaying his vulnerable employees.
The Court found that Dosanjh's workers were paid $6 for each bucket of blueberries they picked.
"The harsh reality in this case is that the Respondent's failure to keep records makes it impossible to calculate the precise quantum of the underpayments, and thus, to investigate the Respondent’s compliance with minimum entitlements under the Award," the judgment says.
"The record keeping was so minimalistic that it was not even possible for the Respondent, let alone the (Fair Work Ombudsman), to contact the vast majority of the employees in question."
Judge Altobelli found that Dosanjh’s contraventions were not deliberate, but that "his culpability cannot be obviated, or mitigated, by ignorance of the law, particularly in the circumstances of a case where his employees are vulnerable, palpably so."
"There is a need to send a message to the community, and particularly to employers, that employers must provide their employees with the current entitlements, and steps should be taken to understand and comply with those entitlements," he said.
Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James says failing to keep proper employment records is a serious matter and contraventions involving overseas workers are particularly serious.
Ms. James says the Fair Work Ombudsman is devoting considerable resources to ensuring the many farms around the country that rely heavily on labour from overseas workers are complying with workplace laws.
The Fair Work Ombudsman is also conducting a national review of the wages and conditions of overseas workers in Australia on the 417 working holiday visa after receiving allegations that some unscrupulous operators were exploiting backpackers.
Employers and employees seeking assistance can visit www.fairwork.gov.au or contact the Fair Work Infoline on 13 13 94. An interpreter service is available on 13 14 50.
