Vegetable farm allegedly underpaid workers a total of $645k

The Fair Work Ombudsman has taken a Victorian vegetable farm to court, seeking court orders for back payments in the hundreds of thousands after it allegedly underpaid nearly 30 migrant workers.

Bulmer Farms Pty Ltd is a vegetable farm that produces crops including lettuce, spinach, and broccoli, operating in Lindenow in the East Gippsland region of Victoria.

The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) investigated the farm after receiving a tip-off from the federal Department of Employment and Workplace Relations.

Scale of alleged underpayments

Allegedly, the vegetable farm underpaid 28 migrant workers from Kiribati, Timor Leste, and the Solomon Islands a total of $645,567, which allegedly included $8,964 in unlawful deductions from their wages. These underpayments allegedly occurred between December 2019 and December 2023, with each individual underpayment allegedly ranging between $1,500 and $39,000.

The FWO is seeking penalties against the vegetable farm for multiple alleged breaches of the Fair Work Act, facing up to $93,900 per breach.

The vegetable farm engaged workers under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme. These workers were in a range of roles, including farm workers and forklift and tractor operators.

During the FWO’s investigation, the farm conducted an internal review, completing $42,189 in back payments to its workers.

The ombudsman is seeking court orders that will require the company to rectify the alleged underpayments in full, plus interest and superannuation.

How it happened

The farm paid its workers weekly amounts based on annualised salaries – flat amounts ranging from $884 to $1,105 per week for a 38-hour week. Allegedly, they did not account for the workers’ overtime hours, as half of the time, they were required to work more than 38 hours per week, failing to cover their entitlements under the Horticulture Award 2010 and 2020. Allegedly, 40 per cent of the overall underpayment was related to entitlements to overtime rates.

Purportedly, this resulted in an underpayment of their minimum ordinary rates, overtime rates, and public holiday work, and unlawful deductions from wages relating to airfare, accommodation, and health insurance. The vegetable farm also allegedly breached record-keeping and pay slip laws, unlawfully requesting or requiring some workers to perform unreasonable hours in excess of 38 hours per week.

Work by the ombudsman

Litigation is the appropriate course of action for these underpayments, considering its scale, Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth (pictured) said. Booth said that the alleged underpayments over the four years were “entirely unacceptable.”

“Employers cannot rely on default annualised salary-based payments if they have not factored in all entitlements for any extra hours worked,” Booth said.

A directions hearing was listed in the Federal Circuit and Family Court in Melbourne for 21 January 2026.

To date, the FWO has filed 171 litigations against employers that involved visa holders, securing $39 million in penalties in cases that have included visa holder workers, in the eight financial years to June 2025.