Age discrimination and short changing staff
The Fair Work Ombudsman has her hands full.
A Thai restaurant has been found guilty in the Federal Court for age discrimination after it fired a waiter because he had reached what they said was retirement age of 65, published Business Insider Australia today.
Click here to read full story at Business Insider Australia.
According to the article, the restaurant management wrote to the employee saying that it was “the policy of the company that we do not employ any staff that attains the retirement age, which in your case is 65 years”.
Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James says discrimination against employees on the grounds of age is unlawful and the outcome of the case serves as a warning to employers that it won’t be tolerated.
The company, Theravanish Investments Pty Ltd has been fined $20,790. Its joint directors and equal shareholders, Nopporn Theravanish and Michael Theravanish, have also been penalised a further $4,180 each.
Meanwhile, in Cairns, the Fair Work Ombudsman has found that Mizuno Trading Company, the operator of two sushi kiosks in Cairns, underpaid five casual employees almost $50,000 in less than six months.
In the story published by Inside Retail Australia, the workers were short-changed amounts ranging from $7285 to $12,177 as a result of being paid a flat hourly rate of $9 for all hours worked. They should have been paid between $22.86 and $30.06 an hour, depending on their shift.
Click here to read full story at Inside Retail Australia.
The Fair Work Ombudsman commenced an investigation after receiving complaints from the employees. Following an investigation, Mizuno Trading has agreed to back-pay the workers in full. The company will make an upfront payment of $20,000 and then repay the balance in monthly installments over 14 months.
