iscoverA former Japanese restaurant operator is facing penalties after allegedly underpaying migrant workers by almost $100,000 as regulators crack down on wage theft.
Japanese restaurant faces penalties following wage theft allegations
18 July 2025
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7 minute read
In July, the Fair Work Ombudsman launched legal action against the former operators of Japanese restaurant Yakiniku Kosu in Castle Hill, Kosu Group and its director Sean Lee.
The FWO alleged that Lee underpaid two Filipino nationals a total of $97,621 for work performed between May 2019 and September 2020.
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As of 1 January 2025, intentional wage underpayment has been criminalised in Australia, drawing hefty penalties for employers found to be intentionally shortchanging their workers.
Under the new laws, an individual employer could face up to 10 years in jail or $1.56 million in fines, while corporations could face fines up to $7.8 million.
It’s among a raft of other legislation to curb employee underpayment, including payday super laws set to take effect from July 2026.
“Allegedly paying workers only about one-third of their total owed wages will not be tolerated. We are committed to taking action to protect vulnerable workers in this country and ensure that employers who breach the law are held to account,” Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said.
The workers, a food and beverage attendant and a sous chef, were paid an unlawfully low flat rate irrespective of the hours worked, the FWO alleged.
They were respectively paid $800 and $1,200 per fortnight, and were required to work up to 128 hours some fortnights, including split shifts, weekend and public holiday work.
In January 2020, the minimum wage for an entry-level food and beverage attendant was $20.06 per hour, according to the FWO’s pay calculator. Based on the alleged hours worked and payment rate, the food and beverage worker attendant was paid as little as $6.25 per hour.
The Ombudsman alleged that the food and beverage attendant was underpaid by $57,928 and the sous chef by $39,693.
The FWO also alleged that Lee had provided false and misleading payslips to investigators that overstated the wages paid to the pair of workers.
“Accurate record-keeping is a legal requirement for any employer. We allege Kosu Group provided false or misleading records to our inspectors,” Booth said.
“Employers should be aware that taking action to protect migrant workers and improve compliance in the fast food, restaurants and cafés sector are priorities for the FWO.”
The FWO said it would seek penalties in court of up to $33,300 per breach for Kosu Group, and $6,660 per breach for Lee.
The alleged underpayments had also been rectified, the FWO noted.
Off the back of the new wage theft laws, accounting firm BDO reminded employers to remain proactive with their payroll systems and conduct regular audits to ensure compliance and address discrepancies.
“It is … critical that employers are aware of and compliant with paying their employees the correct Instrument entitlements,” BDO said.
“Employers need to be confident in historical, current, and future payments made to employees and actively implement changes as they arise.”
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