Australian Restaurant Chain Faces Charges Over Overseas Workers

/ Press Releases / / By
Labor

LawFuel.com – The operator of a popular restaurant chain in Perth is facing legal action and an ongoing investigation over alleged serious breaches of workplace relations laws relating to overseas workers.

Facing Court is Tram Hoang Han, who controls the Han’s Café franchise and directly owns two restaurants.

Three companies of which she is currently the sole director are also facing legal proceedings – Han Investments Pty Ltd, Han’s Café Management Pty Ltd and Han’s Café Pty Ltd.

Several businesses were audited in 2014 during the third and final wave of the Fair Work Ombudsman’s three-year National Hospitality Industry Campaign.

The Agency’s litigation relates to outlets Ms Han is involved in operating at Forrest Chase in the CBD and restaurants she formerly ran at Subiaco,Hillarys and Midland.

The Fair Work Ombudsman alleges that the practices for keeping time-and-wages records were so poor that they hindered the Agency’s ability to quantify and pursue enforcement outcomes for underpaid wages and entitlements.

Ms Han allegedly told Fair Work inspectors that she generally only kept time records for between two and four weeks.

Under workplace laws, employers must keep staff records for seven years.

Despite poor records, the Fair Work Ombudsman was able to calculate that 100 employees across four restaurants had been underpaid more than $30,000 as a result of being short-changed their minimum hourly rate.

This money was back-paid to the workers – including international students, 417 working holiday visa-holders and 457 skilled worker visa-holders – by late last year.

The Fair Work Ombudsman says it is concerned that Ms Han’s outlets allegedly had a standard practice to pay low, flat rates and failed to pay penalties for weekend, overtime and evening work.

Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James says investigations into the outlets are continuing.

She says legal action has been initiated because the failure to keep proper employment records is a serious matter, particularly where vulnerable overseas workers are involved, and inspectors are hindered from upholding the employer’s workplace obligations.

Fair Work inspectors advised Ms Han about the need to comply with minimum Award pay rates in 2013 when they investigated a request for assistance from an employee.

The Fair Work Ombudsman is alleging multiple record-keeping contraventions.

Ms Han faces penalties of up to $5100 per contravention and the companies face penalties of up to $25,500 per contravention.

The Fair Work Ombudsman is also seeking an injunction restraining Ms Han from being involved in any record-keeping contraventions in future.

If the injunction is granted, Ms Han could potentially face contempt of court proceedings for any further record-keeping contraventions proven in Court.

In addition, the Fair Work Ombudsman is seeking a Court Order requiring Ms Han and the three companies to use the educational self-help tools available for employers at www.fairwork.gov.au – including registering with the My Account service.

A case management hearing was heard in the Federal Court in Perth on July 1.

The Fair Work Ombudsman recovered more than $2.2 million in underpaid wages and entitlements for 513 visa-holders from disputes completed by the Agency last calendar year – an average of $4317 each.

The Agency received a total 1916 requests for assistance from visa-holders in 2015, or 12.6 per cent of the total number lodged by all workers.

Ms James says the hospitality sector, in particular the take-away food sub-sector, will remain a “priority” industry earmarked for ongoing education and support.

“The Fair Work Ombudsman is striving to build a culture of compliance where businesses understand and comply with their lawful obligations and do not inadvertently or deliberately undercut their competitors by paying black market wage rates,” she said.

“Clearly, the take-away food sector, an industry comprised largely of small businesses, is grappling with the complexity of the IR system and few it seems are joining industry bodies to seek professional help and advice.

“It is important that major players in the hospitality sector, industry groups and intermediaries such as accountants and lawyers, all play their part to help lift the levels of compliance above what we are seeing now.”

Ms James said the Fair Work Ombudsman was committed to helping employers to understand and comply with workplace laws, but operators also needed to make an effort to get the basics right in the first place.

She urged hospitality businesses to use the online tools and resources available to them free of charge on the Fair Work Ombudsman’s website.

Employers and employees seeking assistance can visitwww.fairwork.gov.au or contact the Fair Work Infoline on 13 13 94. An interpreter service is available on 13 14 50.

Read More

Former Postal Employee Who Stole and Sold Over 6200 Credit Cards

/ Press Releases / July 6, 2016 / By
Credit card use
        SANTA ANA, California – A Garden Grove man who worked for the United States Postal Service for more than two decades appeared in federal court this morning after agreeing to plead guilty to stealing from the mail and selling at least 6,240 credit cards.
        Chinh Vuong, 48, was summonsed into federal court this morning.
        Vuong was charged last week with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft for stealing mail while on the job for a year and using the information in the mail for identity theft.
        “Postal employees have a duty to conduct postal business in a professional manner, to ensure the proper delivery the public’s mail,” said United States Attorney Eileen M. Decker.  “This defendant, who was entrusted with providing this important public service, victimized thousands of postal customers to finance a life of luxury.  Such conduct is contrary to the long-established traditional of the postal service and its employees, whose honest delivery of mail contributes every day to the economic vitality of our country.”
According to the documents filed in the case, Vuong had worked at the United States Postal Service Santa Ana Processing and Distribution Center (“Santa Ana P. & D.C.”) as a mail processing clerk since 1989. Between October 6, 2014, and October 6, 2015, while working at the Santa Ana P. & D.C., Vuong stole at least 6,240 credit cards from undelivered mail for the profit of him and others. Vuong made at least $6,000 per month selling stolen credit cards.
Vuong used the funds from the sale of stolen credit cards to pay for personal expenses, including designer handbags and boots, two BMWs, alcohol, and drugs. On October 6, 2015, federal authorities searched Vuong’s Garden Grove residence and seized approximately 199 stolen credit cards and luxury items bought using the proceeds from selling stolen credit cards, including two BMWs and over 20 handbags made by brands like Prada, Louis Vuitton, and Gucci. 
Special Agent in Charge Brian Washington added, “The USPS OIG conducts internal investigations to include mail theft and misconduct by postal employees. The overwhelming majority of postal employees are honest, hardworking and trustworthy individuals who would never consider engaging in any form of criminal behavior. However, when a postal employee betrays that trust, our special agents vigorously investigate those matters as has been done in this case.”
Robert Wemyss, Postal Inspector in Charge of the Los Angeles Division, stated “The overwhelming majority of Postal Service employees work conscientiously to move the nation’s mail to its proper destination. When that trust is compromised the United States Postal Inspection Service takes proper investigative steps to have them and their co-conspirators prosecuted.”
“Citizens need to rely on the security of the U.S. mail and the integrity of the postal carriers with whom their correspondence and their privacy is entrusted,” said Deirdre Fike, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “By lining his pockets through identity theft, Mr. Vuong breached the trust placed in him by citizens who paid his salary and the companies which sustained a financial loss.”
Vuong entered not guilty pleas this morning and his matter was assigned to United States District Judge Cormac J. Carney. Although a trial date of August 30was set, it is expected that Judge Carney will set a change of plea hearing in the near future where Vuong will plead guilty to both counts. 
The charge of aggravated identity theft carries a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in federal prison—which must run consecutively with the sentence imposed for the bank fraud conspiracy charge. The bank fraud charge conspiracy carries a statutory maximum sentence of 30 years.
        The investigation into Vuong was conducted by United States Postal Inspection Service, United States Postal Service Office of the Inspector General, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Westminster Police Department also provided assistance in the investigation.
 

About The Author

lawfuel
LawFuell's editors select and publish the most relevant and up-to-date information about lawyers and law firms for LawFuel on a daily basis from the most reputable and independent sources available.
Built with Kit