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Article

17 Sep 2024

Author:
Warwick Long & Fiona Broom, ABC (Australia)

Unpaid wages left celery farm migrant workers 'frightened', Ombudsman says

Australia's largest celery producer has been fined more than $150,000 after "deliberately" underpaying the migrant workers who planted and picked the popular vegetable.

The Federal Court on Friday found the farm on the Mornington Peninsula, south of Melbourne, failed to pay workers minimum wage, casual loading, overtime or public holiday pay between February 2020 and February 2021.

One farm hand was only paid for 10 weeks out of 52 weeks of work.

The Federal Court found A & G Lamattina & Sons withheld 30 weeks' salary from another worker, while a third was only paid for eight of 41 weeks of work.

"This is ... at the extreme end of what we see," Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth told ABC Victorian Country Hour following the court proceeding...

Ms Booth said more than $90,000 was withheld from the three staff, who were temporary visa holders.

"We get told by migrant workers that they fear for losing their jobs, they fear for losing their visas, and they fear for the consequences for themselves and their families," she said.

"They're very vulnerable."

...

The ABC has contacted Lamattina for comment...