Blue Sky Kids Land has been ordered to pay a total of $5,146,100 in court penalties after the retailer was found to have exploited four Chinese migrants and hindered or obstructed Fair Work inspectors, despite having been put on notice to comply.
The retailer, operated by Guo Dong Gu and Fei Rong Yang with children’s clothing stores in Sydney, NSW’s Central Coast, Newcastle and Canberra, also has to make back-payments to the workers plus superannuation and interest. Q Fay Trading, a company previously operated by Gu and Yang which imported clothing to supply to the stores was also fined.
The total penalties are the third highest ever secured in court by the Fair Work Ombudsman.
Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth says the blatant contraventions were made even more horrendous by the fact that Fair Work inspectors had had interactions with Blue Sky Kids Land and its directors dating back to 2006 and had clearly put them on notice to correct non-compliance issues.
“These substantial penalties highlight that exploiting vulnerable migrant workers is particularly reprehensible conduct that will not be tolerated in Australia,” she says.
“We treat cases involving underpayments and use of false or misleading records impacting migrant workers particularly seriously, because we are conscious that they can be vulnerable due to factors such as a lack of awareness of their entitlements or a reluctance to complain.
“Hindering or obstructing a Fair Work inspector is also unacceptable.”
Fair Work inspectors discovered the exploitation of the four migrant workers when it investigated a request for assistance from one of them. Blue Sky Kids Land and Q Fay Trading are now in liquidation.
Image: iStock/PeopleImages
