Reports that a third-party labour hire company that underpaid vegetable farm workers has dealt another blow to horticulture's reputation in relation to farm labour. The Fair Work Ombudsman this week (June 27th) reported that Queensland producer Story Fresh Farms used third-party labour hire company Team Search Harvesting, which incorrectly paid dozens of international students and working holiday visa-holders.
The workers from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Africa, France, Germany, Italy and the UK planted, weeded and picked lettuce on Story Fresh Farms in the Darling Downs and Lockyer Valley.
The Fair Work Ombudsman discovered the underpayment when it investigated a request for assistance from a former employee.
The worker was found to have been short-changed more than $3200.
Further inquiries by Fair Work inspectors as part of the Agency’s national Harvest Trail Inquiry revealed more than 100 other workers had been underpaid.
A total of 107 casual employees were collectively short-changed a total of $15,892 between January 1 2014 to July 30 2015.
Instead of the flat $15 an hour they were paid, they should have received a casual hourly rate for normal work of $20.40 from July 1, 2013.
This increased to $21.09 from July 1, 2014 and $21.61 from July 1, 2015.
Story Fresh previously outsourced part of its workforce requirement to Team Search Harvesting but has now severed its ties with the labour contractor.
Story Fresh owner Geoffrey Story told ABC Radio this week that his company paid Team Search Harvesting the right amount of money so it could pay the foreign workers correctly.
Labour hire issues were one of the main topics discussed at last week's National Horticulture Convention on the Gold Coast where several speakers reminded growers to do their homework on the third party contractors they engage with.
Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James said Story Fresh paid a contract price that was high enough for Team Search Harvesting to ensure its employees received minimum wages.
She said Team Search Harvesting paid its employees under a piece-rate agreement to pick lettuce but the agreements were invalid as they were not signed, and then paid a flat rate of $15 for weeding and planting.
Team Search Harvesting also made unlawful deductions from employee wages.
The Fair Work Ombudsman has requested Team Search Harvesting partners Lai Yoong Ching and Swee Cheng Khong to sign an Enforceable Undertaking.
Team Search Harvesting has agreed to implement a range of measures to ensure future compliance with their workplace obligations.
The latest revelation comes on the back of the Fair Work Ombudsman announcing it was taking legal action against a strawberry farm near Stanthorpe for underpaying some of its workers.
