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Braddon restaurant allegedly exploited workers

Binny’s Kathitto is facing serious allegations of migrant worker exploitation.

A POPULAR Indian restaurant on Lonsdale Street is facing a number of serious allegations of migrant worker exploitation, according to the hospitality union, United Voice. 

United Voice is alleging that the restaurant, Binny’s Kathitto, forced workers to pay back almost a quarter of their wages in cash each fortnight in a practice known as a “cash back scam” (a practice recently uncovered in the 7/11 franchise scandal). 

In applications submitted to the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO), the union is also alleging the restaurant forced its workers to “purchase” sick and holiday leave at the rate of $100 a day to cover the cost of replacement staff.

The applications also allege that the restaurant forced workers to work 60-hour weeks without paying overtime, failed to conduct yearly salary reconciliations as required by the Restaurant Award, failed to pay wages on time, failed to pay superannuation, forged records, bullied workers, and frequently threatened workers with the prospect of visa cancellation.

Former restaurant manager Ms Shojin Thomas says she paid back almost $21,000 of her wages to the restaurant between March 2018 and July this year.

Ms Thomas says: “We were told the cash payments were to cover tax and replacement staff, and that if we didn’t pay they’d cancel our visas and send us home. We had no choice. They controlled us.” 

As well as these allegations, United Voice is accusing the restaurant of actively discriminating against workers for being sick or injured.

One worker, Ms Ninumol Abraham, worked as a cook at the restaurant from May 2018 until mid-January 2019 when she was fired for “poor performance” after submitting a medical certificate earlier in the day.

Ms Abraham says: “The job was meant to mean a new start for my family in Australia, instead it became a nightmare. The owners should be banned from ever operating a business again.”

Earlier this year, after hearing about Ms Abraham’s experience, United Voice helped Ms Abraham make a complaint to the ACT Human Rights Commission in February. The complaint has now been referred to the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal. 

The United Voice ACT branch secretary, Lyndal Ryan, says workers shouldn’t have to worry about their bosses ripping them off, this exploitative behaviour has got to stop across the board.

“Perhaps the greatest irony of the situation is that the restaurant is located literally next door to the Department of Home Affairs,” she says.

“And it’s shocking that this fact was used to intimidate our members, that they were told they had to cop the cash back scam because the Department overseeing visas was just next door.

“It is clear extreme migrant worker exploitation is happening right under our noses in the ACT and employers are getting away with it every day.”

United Voice will be protesting outside of the restaurant at 12.30pm today (September 5). 

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