“Recycling firm fined for underpaying refugees $200K”

A Victorian recycling giant which had contracts with several councils has been slapped with a fine double the amount of underpayments it withheld from five South Asian refugees working in its plant.

The workers were underpaid a total of $194,249 over a period of 20 months between 2018 and 2019 when they were employed to sort waste at facilities in Dandenong and Hallam then operated by the company Polytrade.

They were paid about half of what they were entitled to…

The court fined Polytrade $375,515 and it paid the five workers in full.

The company also made a further $2.2 million in back payments to workers who had been underpaid since 2012 but not involved in the ombudsman's legal action…

Some of the workers gave evidence in court that they worked 12-hour shifts, usually six and sometimes seven days per week…

The Albanese government in June introduced tougher penalties on employers to curb migrant worker exploitation, with one in six recent migrants to Australia being paid less than the minimum wage.

Unions, lawyers and migrant rights groups earlier this month called for the introduction of an exploited worker guarantee, allowing employees to report bosses for unfair actions without fear of retaliation…