Australia's peak farming body and the Fair Work Ombudsman are set to clash in the Federal Court over the alleged short-changing of horticultural workers.
The Fair Work Ombudsman is prosecuting Marland Mushrooms Qld Pty Ltd and its owner Troy Marland over the alleged underpayment of $646,000 to 406 contract pickers during the first eight months of 2014.
The workers received a "piece rate" of 60 to 80 cents for every kilogram of mushrooms they picked which "came nowhere near complying" with the Horticulture Award 2010, Justin Bourke QC, Counsel for the Fair Work Ombudsman, told the Federal Court in Brisbane.
He said they should have received at least 91 cents per kilogram to meet award requirements.
But the National Farmers' Federation (NFF), which successfully applied to intervene in the case, has signalled it will be challenging the Fair Work Ombudsman's understanding of the award and how it should operate.
Piece rates are used widely in the horticulture industry and are also included in sugar and timber industry awards.
Barrister for the NFF, Mr Richard Dalton told the court his client would be arguing the Fair Work Ombudsman's case had not been pleaded properly and was "fundamentally defective".
He said the NFF would also make submissions on the history of the award as it relates to piece rates and how it should be interpreted, when the trial resumes later this month.
On Monday, presiding judge, Justice Darryl Rangiah, asked Mr Bourke whether piece rates, once agreed between employers and employees, could be changed under clause 15.2 of the Horticulture Award.
"Under the National Farmers' Federation's construction, you don't have to fix it," Mr Bourke said.
He said the NFF position opened up "a level of exploitation" that was "hard to fathom that's how clause 15.2 is meant to work in a modern award".
