Chinese language school cops penalty for underpayments

A Melbourne-based Chinese language school and its former volunteer chairman have been struck with close to $15,000 in penalties for failing to follow a compliance notice.

Western Chinese Language School Incorporated was recently sentenced in the Federal Circuit and Family Court and ordered to pay a $13,320 penalty in response to the school’s failure to comply with a Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) compliance notice.

Alongside the school’s sentencing, former chairman of the school’s board Baoquan Chen – who operated on a volunteer basis – was also imposed with an $825 penalty.

The compliance notice by the FWO ordered the school to calculate and make payments to four workers for outstanding minimum entitlements. These workers operated as Chinese language teachers for various periods between October 2016 and June 2021.

According to the FWO, Chen was directly involved in the contravention.

“When compliance notices are not followed, we are prepared to take legal action to ensure workers receive their lawful entitlements,” Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said.

“As this case demonstrates, legal action can be taken against both the employer and any individuals legally involved in the contraventions, including those who hold volunteer positions with the employer.

“Employers must meet all their obligations to their workers, and people in senior leadership positions must ensure that compliance is a high priority for those organisations.”

The four affected teachers reached out to the FWO seeking assistance for their unpaid entitlements, claiming they worked on a part-time or casual basis.

Following this, an FWO inspector issued the compliance notice to the school and Chen right back in September 2022 after forming a belief the school had failed to pay Saturday and public holiday penalties and accrued annual leave at the end of one employee’s period of employment.

As previously reported by HR Leader, recently, Perth-based company My IT Partner was whacked with a $41,250 penalty for the “deliberate and intentional defiance” of a compliance notice.

Judge Sandy Street of the Federal Circuit and Family Court described the non-compliance as deliberate due to its sole director and shareholder, Aaron Fisher, threatening to commence a lawsuit against the FWO if it continued to seek to enforce the back payments.

“The evidence as to continued existence of [My IT Partner] 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.