The Fair Work Ombudsman has secured the maximum available penalty in court against an IT company in Perth, with a judge criticising the company for deliberate defiance.
The Federal Circuit and Family Court has imposed a $41,250 penalty against My IT Partner Pty Ltd, which operates an information technology solutions business trading as My Info Tech Partner.
The penalty was imposed in response to My IT Partner Pty Ltd failing to comply with a Compliance Notice requiring it to calculate and back-pay a worker it employed on a full-time basis in an IT helpdesk support role between August 2019 and August 2022.
The Court has also ordered My IT Partner Pty Ltd to calculate and back-pay the entitlements still owed to the worker under the Compliance Notice, plus interest and superannuation.
Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said business operators that fail to act on Compliance Notices need to be aware they can face penalties in court on top of having to back-pay workers.
"When Compliance Notices are not followed, we will continue to take legal action to protect employees," Ms Booth said.
"The case highlights that employers who fail to act on these notices - including those who deliberately seek to defy them - risk substantial penalties in addition to being ordered to back-pay workers.
"Any employees with concerns about their pay or entitlements should contact us for free advice and assistance."
The FWO investigated after receiving a request for assistance from the affected worker.
A Fair Work Inspector issued a Compliance Notice to My IT Partner Pty Ltd in May 2023 after forming a belief the company had underpaid the worker's minimum wages during his employment and failed to pay him any wages for the final three weeks of work he performed. The wages were allegedly owed under the Miscellaneous Award 2010 and 2020.
The inspector also formed a belief the worker was not paid accrued but untaken annual leave entitlements at the end of his employment, owed under the Fair Work Act's National Employment Standards.
In his judgment, Judge Sandy Street found that My IT Partner Pty Ltd displayed a "deliberate and intentional defiance of the notice" referring to correspondence from its sole director and shareholder, Aaron Fisher which threatened to commence a lawsuit against the Fair Work Ombudsman if it continued to seek to enforce compliance with the Compliance Notice.
Judge Street found that the "deliberate and defiant refusal" to comply reflected "conduct of a kind that shows there is a very real need for subjective deterrence".
"The evidence as to continued existence of [My IT Partner Pty Ltd] and [its] engaging employees and the absence of any culture conducive to compliance and the role of senior management in the deliberate and intentional contravention in the present case warrants the Court imposing the maximum penalty on [the company]," Judge Street said.
