No dough blow

By Bridget Brady
HOLES have appeared in the pay cheques, as well as in the donuts, at Donut King in Cranbourne.
The Federal Magistrates’ Court has fined the chain $30,000 for deliberately underpaying 10 casual staff members, some as young as 15, at the Cranbourne Centro Shopping Centre outlet.
The court heard that most of the 10 staff members were teenagers.
The penalty arose after legal action was taken against the company and director Kenneth Lui for failing to pay staff about $9000 worth of annual leave, weekend, public holiday, overtime and night shift rates. Some staff members were also not given meal breaks.
Federal Workplace Ombudsman Nicholas Wilson, who initiated the legal action on behalf of the casual workers, welcomed the fine.
Mr Wilson said the penalty reinforced the message to employers that exploitation of young and vulnerable staff members would not be tolerated.
Mr Wilson told court that the management at Donut King had neglected to pay casual staff amounts ranging from $257 to more than $2000 each.
He said the company had further breached the Workplace Relations Act by lodging Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) that employees had not seen, signed or agreed to.
Federal Magistrate Philip Burchardt found that Mr Liu’s conduct was deliberate and said his cooperation with the Ombudsman was “patchy at best.”
While delivering his verdict, Federal Magistrate Burchardt said, the penalty was important as a general deterrent. He said breaches of workplace laws were “regrettably rife in the retail industry.”
“(It is) important that people in low-paid jobs with only basic conditions of employment get at the very least the minimum entitlements.”
Mr Wilson said the case proved that employers found to have violated the rights of staff members would pay the price for their actions.
Donut King did not provide a comment before the News went to print.
Retail Food Group (RFG) chief operating officer Garry Best said RFG did not condone the actions of the management.
“While RFG owns the Donut King franchise system, each Donut King store is owned by an individual franchisee,” Mr Best said.
“Like any business owner, it is up to individual franchisees to operate their business in accordance with all Australian laws, awards and regulations.
“We will review this matter with the franchise and determine possible future action.”