Stavros and Anastasia Petroulias, the couple who run Barry Cafe in Northcote, were fined for underpaying 73 staff members more than $180,000 over 12 months.
The ABC had revealed in 2018 that staff members were underpaid at least $5 per hour and that their shifts were cancelled when they tried to discuss their wages with owners.
The court has now ordered they pay fines worth $232,545.
The court ordered that workers’ losses be rectified, however this has not fully happened with one worker owed $12,315.
The Fair Work Ombudsman found staff had not been paid penalty rates and casual loadings they were entitled to under the Restaurant Industry Award. Others were paid below the minimum wage.
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The court said the owners had “deliberately contravened workplace laws and exploited staff”, including many young and migrant workers being paid flat rates of $18 to $25 an hour.
When workers challenged the low rates, they were docked shifts.
Employers are now on notice to pay Australia’s “lawful minimum wage”.
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“We also treat very seriously instances of employers taking any sort of action against an employee in response to them seeking to have their lawful workplace rights respected,” Ombudsman Sandra Parker said.
