Federal Circuit Court has penalized an Indian-origin owner of a transport company for underpaying 12 drivers more than $143,000.
Sumerdeep Singh from Woolgoolga has been slapped with $41,208 fine for underpaying drivers and record-keeping contraventions.
Sumer Bagri Pty Ltd, Singh’s former company had a contract with Linfox Australia for delivering groceries for Woolworths.
Investigations by Fair Work found that while the contract price paid to Singh’s company was well above the amount required to pay the drivers their minimum entitlements, the 12 drivers had been short-changed $143,600 over three years.
Sumerdeep Singh, himself a former delivery driver, admitted the underpayments.
He also acknowledged withdrawing $45,000 from his company’s accounts to pay a deposit on a house, which the court viewed as a significant given none of the drivers had been paid what they were owed.
The court heard that Singh doctored his employee records in an effort to cover-up the underpayments.
He even forged records that he was driving at a time he was actually in India.
Judge Justin Smith found that Singh’s contraventions were serious and deliberate.
“Mr. Singh deliberately falsified records to avoid being caught,” the Judge said.
“There is no excuse for deliberately falsifying records in order to deceive inspectors and so divert them from their duty,” the judge added.
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Earlier, Fair Work Ombudsman was unable to take action against Singh’s company after it went into liquidation.
Acting Fair Work Ombudsman Mark Scully said the decision shows the courts’ seriousness against the conduct of those who seek to profit at the expense of their employees.
While both Woolworths and Linfox had no involvement in the contraventions, Mr. Scully said better oversight of their supply chain may have avoided the underpayments.
“Outsourcing is a legitimate business arrangement but in our experience, in highly competitive markets, it also increases the risk that workers will be underpaid, sometimes quite deliberately,” he said.
“Businesses at the top of the supply chain should maintain a lever of control and oversight that enables them to be confident that the workers at their worksites and in their supply chains are receiving their full lawful entitlements.”
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