TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — An Australian court issued Taiwan's Din Tai Fung an AU$3.89 million (NT$81.74 million) fine after two branches intentionally underpaid employees and falsified salary records.
According to court documents released by Australia's Fair Work Ombudsman on Wednesday (April 10), Din Tai Fung deliberately underpaid 17 employees at its restaurants in Sydney and Melbourne between July 2014 and June 2018. During this period, the eateries maintained two sets of wage and hour records: one genuine and the other falsified, with the latter understating hours worked and falsifying pay rates.
The amount of salary that staff were underpaid ranged from AU$2,165 to AU$50,588. Among workers who reported the most substantial underpayments, unpaid overtime accounted for a large share.
The court found DTF World Square Pty Ltd, Selden Farlane Lachlan Investments Pty Ltd, as well as the general manager of DTF World Square Hannah Handoko, and HR coordinator of DTF World Square Sinthiana Parmenas, liable for underpaying employee wages and creating false records. This included paying employees below the statutory minimum wage and failing to pay penalty rates for weekends, holidays, and evening hours.
Justice Anna Katzmann said that the two companies and senior managers had “deliberately deprived the employees of their legislated entitlements and contrived to disguise their wrongdoing through the creation of a false set of records." Katzmann called the respondent's actions “deceitful and unscrupulous” and "involved a calculated scheme to rob employees of their hard-earned wages and deceive the authorities.”
Din Tai Fung was fined AU$3.9 million and Selden Farlane Lachlan Investments was fined AU$1.89 million. The two managers were fined AU$92,232 and AU$105,084, respectively.
The court stated that most of the employees affected were under 30 years old and held temporary visas as migrant workers primarily from Indonesia and China.
Both companies had entered administration before the trial, potentially limiting the ability of these employees to receive full compensation for their wage losses, reported Sun Media.
Update: 04/15 9:40 a.m.
Din Tai Fung issued the following statement to Taiwan News in response to the court's decision:
"Din Tai Fung Taiwan deeply regrets this incident and will cooperate with the Australian government's judgment. We will also review all global operations of Din Tai Fung to prevent similar incidents from happening again. "
