Guest workers 'kept on half-pay' Victoria Laurie 07mar06
TWO Filipino guest workers, forced to work long overtime and six-day weeks, were underpaid by more than $500 a week by a Canberra restaurant.
An investigation by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations has also found the workers had unauthorised expenses deducted by their employer, Zeffirelli's pizza restaurant, effectively halving their take-home pay. The investigation followed a report in The Weekend Australian revealing guest workers on skilled migration visas had lodged complaints with the ACT's Human Rights Office and the federal Government alleging unfair working and pay conditions in several Canberra restaurants.
The workers were among 30 Filipino cooks and restaurant staff who arrived last September to work as short-term labour.
Describing the department's findings as a breakthrough, the Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union said the investigation confirmed that workers had been exploited.
"The employer has breached virtually all aspects of the award," union organiser David Bibo said, adding that a wage caseinvolving another Canberra restaurant would be determined this week.
"We are confident the wage claims of two other Filipino workers will be upheld this week and we look forward to the employers paying the wages owed to these workers."
A senior compliance officer from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations found that the two workers from Manila, Donabella Cruz and Napoleon Arietta, had not been fully paid for overtime worked or received penalty rates and had not been given the mandatory two days a week off.
Mr Bibo said the workers had been told they would receive suitable accommodation, and a paid return airfare was guaranteed under the terms of their short-term visa. But the union found each worker's weekly wage had been debited for airfares and the provision of household appliances such as a fridge, cleaning materials and even toilet paper.
These unauthorised deductions combined with underpayment resulted in the pair being out of pocket by up to $510 a week.
The union estimates the workers are owed a total of more than $5000 each. According to a letter sent to each worker by the compliance officer, Zeffirelli's "has been given 14 days to rectify the underpayments for the entire period of your employment". If the employer refuses to repay the workers, it may face prosecution by the department.
A spokesman for Zeffirelli's directed calls to the ACT Chamber of Commerce, where spokesman Chris Peters said the restaurant had not yet received a letter or any direction to repay the workers. "Last week, DEWR advised us they had not made any calculation (of unpaid wages)," Mr Peters said.
The union claims a Filipino worker at another Canberra restaurant is owed almost $9500 in unpaid overtime for 10-hour days worked over a 22-week period.
Mr Bibo said that despite the wage finding, the foreign workers were still vulnerable as they had been forced to leave the employer who sponsored their 457 temporary visa, which entitles them to remain in Australia for four years.
