The directors of one of the most popular coffee shops in Canberra's central business district, Cafe Garema, are facing legal action over allegations of serious breaches of record-keeping laws and staff underpayment.
The Fair Work Ombudsman has filed suit against Yang Brothers Investment Pty Ltd and its directors, twin brother Yong "Johnny" Yan and Zhi "Jackie" Yang, who run the Civic cafe.
It centres on FWO allegations the company and its directors failed to make or keep appropriate workplace records, by failing to record employees' names, starting dates, hours worked, pay rates, payments made, leave accrued or taken, superannuation payments or issue pay slips.
Ombudsman Natalie James said the failures to keep the records were so "sub-standard" it prevented inspectors from determining "just how much the workers had been underpaid".
The FWO has alleged as many as 12 cafe employees were underpaid, with just two weeks of records showing workers were paid flat rates of $14 and $20 an hour, and those affected were underpaid $1353 in total over that fortnight, only one of whom has been back-paid their entitlements.
But inspectors were unable to find any other employment records for the business during a regional compliance audit.
It was the second time the cafe had come to the Ombudsman's attention, after an employee complained about the directors in 2012, after which the FWO sent "educational material" about workplace laws and record-keeping.
Ms James said "another concerning fact" was that many of the employees were young workers, the youngest being just 17 years of age at the time.
The company faces penalties of up to $27,000 for each alleged record-keeping and pay slip contravention while both directors each face penalties up to $5400 for each breach.
For each of the alleged underpayments, the company faces fines of up to $54,000 and both directors face fines of up to $10,800.
The FWO also sought ordesr the company and the Yang brothers pay the outstanding $1353 in underpayments, that the company complete a third-party compliance audit, and all directors and managers complete workplace relations law training.