The Fair Work Ombudsman has secured a $15,984 penalty in court against the former operator of a United Petroleum outlet in Brisbane after he provided an inspector with falsified records.
The Federal Circuit and Family Court has imposed the penalty against Navaneeth Gogikar, who formerly operated a United Petroleum outlet at Sunnybank Hills as a sole trader.
The Fair Work Ombudsman requested time-and-wages records from Mr Gogikar as part of an investigation.
In response, Mr Gogikar breached the Fair Work Act by knowingly providing a Fair Work Inspector with false or misleading records, being pay slips showing that he paid a young Indian international student he employed different rates of pay and net amounts than was actually the case.
Mr Gogikar also breached the Fair Work Act by failing to keep proper records for the worker and two other young Indian international students he employed, and failed to issue the workers with pay slips.
Mr Gogikar employed the three workers, all visa holders then aged 23 to 24, as console operators for various periods between 2019 and 2021.
The alleged record-keeping failures prevented the Fair Work Ombudsman from obtaining the relevant time-and-wages evidence required to complete a time-and-wages audit.
Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said the penalty imposed should send a message about the seriousness of breaching record-keeping laws.
“We have no tolerance for employers who knowingly provide our inspectors false records,” Ms Booth said.
“It is also unacceptable for an employer’s record-keeping practices to be so poor that they prevent us from completing a proper assessment of what hours its employees have worked and whether it has paid its employees their full lawful entitlements.
“Employers need to be aware that taking action to protect young and migrant workers is a priority for the Fair Work Ombudsman. Anybody with concerns about their entitlements should contact the Fair Work Ombudsman for free assistance.”
The litigation against Mr Gogikar is one of five commenced by the Fair Work Ombudsman against former operators of United Petroleum-branded outlets, which follow a FWO investigation into the United Petroleum network commenced in response to concerns about non-compliance.
The investigation involved audits of 20 United Petroleum-branded outlets across Tasmania, Queensland, NSW, Victoria and South Australia.
Two of the legal actions were finalised in court in February this year, with the Fair Work Ombudsman securing $179,221 in penalties in relation to underpayments of workers at two United Petroleum-branded outlets in Tasmania.
The other two court cases are ongoing, with the FWO having filed litigations against Sai Enterprises Pty Ltd and Raman Monga, in relation to an Adelaide outlet, and against sole trader Bharathi Karnati, in relation to an outlet in Melbourne.
One of the FWO’s investigations is ongoing.
The Fair Work Ombudsman filed 146 litigations against employers involving visa holder workers, and secured nearly $23 million in penalties in cases that have included visa holder workers, in the seven financial years to June 2024.
The FWO has targeted resources for visa holder workers – who have the same workplace rights as other workers – and young workers.
NOTE: The Fair Work Ombudsman makes no allegations against the current operators of the United Petroleum outlet in Sunnybank Hills.
