It's alleged that 152 employees - including 95 visa holders - were underpaid a total of $169,320 in 2016. 9News
Bubble tea chain Chatime Australia faces legal action over an alleged $169,000 underpayment scandal that occurred across 10 company-owned outlets in Sydney and Melbourne, with boss Chen 'Charlley' Zhao accused of having a central role in some of the matters.
It is alleged that 152 Chatime employees - including 42 junior workers aged under 21 and 95 visa holders - were underpaid a total of $169,320 between August and December 2016, with individual underpayments ranging from $58 to $3,990. Today's action by the Fair Work Ombudsman comes as it reveals a national investigation recovered $731,648 in unpaid wages for 780 workers at a number of metro-based food businesses including Chatime, Gongcha, Hot Star Chicken, PaapaRich, Sushi Izu, Nene Chicken and The Sushi 79.Fair Work Inspectors carried out an audit at a number of franchises that have recently commenced operations in Australia, with 80 per cent of 76 stores visited breaching at least one workplace law.
The Ombudsman said the investigation found Chatime employees were paid flat rates as low as $7.59 to $24.30 per hour during the period in question, while the company adopted a practice of not paying Fast Food Industry Award entitlements such as loadings and penalty rates.The Ombudsman said this occurred despite Chatime Australia's former chief financial officer providing Mr Zhao with information on minimum award rates.
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