Canberra parlour underpays workers $900k
A Canberra massage parlour has underpaid Filipino workers more than $900,000 and threatened to have their families in the Philippines killed if they complained to authorities.
The Fair Work Ombudsman has commenced legal action against the former operators of the foot&thai parlour, claiming six women and a man were underpaid a total of $912,809 between June 2012 and February 2016.
It says business owner Colin Kenneth Elvin sponsored the workers on 457 visas and arranged for them to fly to Australia, after they were recruited by Filipino man and business colleague Jun Millard Puerto.
The seven migrants were allegedly made to work up to 65 hours a week, but only got paid for 38 hours.
They were allegedly locked in overnight accommodation outside of work hours, and transported to and from the Belconnen business each day to curtail their movements.
The Ombudsman said Mr Elvin and Mr Puerto also threatened to send the workers back to the Philippines if they told anyone about their working conditions, or to have their families killed if they complained to the Department of Home Affairs.
"We allege that these seven workers were deliberately targeted because of their vulnerability and exploited for profit," Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James said.
"We allege that the threats made to these employees were ongoing while they were in Australia and designed to conceal the way they were being callously exploited.
"This type of conduct has no place in Australia and it deserves utter condemnation and appropriate sanctioning."
