Finance broker’s third strike results in $470,000 penalty

Recent legal action conducted by the Fair Work Ombudsman has resulted in a heavy penalty against two Melbourne-based companies and its director, accused of migrant worker exploitation and numerous breaches of adverse action provisions of the Fair Work Act.

Ansa Finance Pty Ltd, AFSL Group Pty Ltd, and manager of both, Joshua Fuoco, have been fined $233,100, $173,160 and $72,620 respectively by the Federal Circuit and Family Court for conducting adverse action and retaliatory dismissals, ongoing underpayments and absent payslips, totalling $478,880.

The Fair Work Ombudsman commenced legal action against the companies after being contacted by four workers employed in insurance, broking and customer relationship management - three from Ansa Finance, and one from AFSL Group - for various periods between 2021 and 2022.

Of the four workers, three were visa holders, and one was a student-aged Australian citizen.

The employee of AFSL Group has not been paid for four months of work, equating to $6,884 of missing wage and entitlement payments, with the youngest affected worker underpaid almost $15,000.

While the workers’ contracts dictated rates higher than that of their relevant awards, underpayments were identified in both minimum hourly rates and entitlements as dictated by the Banking, Finance and Insurance Award 2020, and the National Employment Standards, including public holiday, annual leave, and personal leave entitlements.

Further, two workers were terminated after requesting payment of missing entitlements, which surmounted to a breach of Fair Work Act adverse action provisions, whilst also failing to provide notice-of-termination.

Frequency-of-pay and pay slip breaches were also identified, as well as failure to comply with a Fair Work Inspector’s Notices to Produce records or documents.

On the numerous breaches, Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said: “There is no place in Australian workplaces for exploitation of vulnerable migrant workers, and employers who do so will face legal action and significant penalties.”

“Visa holder workers have the same workplace rights as all other workers, and protections exist for their visa if they seek help.”

Booth added that the exploitation of vulnerable young and migrant workers remains a priority for the FWO, and that legal action is a possibility for any found to have breached workplace laws.

Judge Janine Young highlighted how the conducted was so disturbing that one worker has since left the finance industry altogether, adding: “she was unemployed for six months, was in ‘significant financial difficulty’ and had to rely on her parents sending money from India and friends and family in Australia loaning her money to survive”.

Further, it was noted that Fuoco was aware of and involved in the breaches, with Judge Young identifying “habitual non-compliance” and a “disregard for the employee’ lawful statutory entitlements and a sustained willingness to prioritise their own interests at the expense of their employees; entitlements and workplace rights”.

The Court had previously ordered a correction of more than $30,000 in underpayments affecting the same four workers, with the FWO also securing $99,990 in penalties against Ansa Finance and Fuoco in 2024 for failing to backpay workers in 2024.

The order also follows Fuoco’s suspended jail sentence for contempt of court in mid-2025.

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