Han’s Rockingham in spotlight

Han’s Café faces more legal scrutiny as the Fair Work Ombudsman started further legal action against the café chain, after it alleged staff at the Rockingham outlet were underpaid $27,920.

The Rockingham outlet’s general manager Cuc Thi Thu Pham as well as the franchisee of the café Tac Pham Pty Ltd are set to face the Federal Circuit Court in Perth on June 26 after it was alleged 22 employees were underpaid between December 2014 and December 2015.

The latest legal action comes as a result of an investigation that was started by Fair Work Ombudsman inspectors, who acted on a tip off during an auditing campaign across Perth’s south.

Inspectors allegedly found that staff at the Han’s Café Rockingham outlet were being paid various low, flat rates that were generally below the minimum lawful rates they were entitled to under the Restaurant Industry Award 2010.

The 22 allegedly underpaid employees include nine juniors who were aged between 17 and 19 and seven overseas workers from Vietnam.

Most were in Australia on international student visas.

The employees were allegedly underpaid minimum rates for ordinary hours and also short-changed a split-shift allowance and penalty rates for weekend, public holiday and late night work.

Pay slip laws were allegedly also contravened, with workers eventually back paid in full earlier this year.

Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James says legal action has been commenced because vulnerable workers had allegedly been significantly short-changed despite the employer having been on notice of its obligations.

It is alleged the underpayments occurred despite the Fair Work Ombudsman having educated Ms Pham and Tac Pham Pty Ltd in 2013 about minimum lawful Award wage rates after receiving an underpayment allegation from a worker.

Tac Pham Pty Ltd faces penalties of up to $54,000 per contravention and Ms Pham faces penalties of up to $10,800 per contravention.