Cash envelopes, pay-back slips and $15.3 million in penalties

The Sushi Bay group ran sushi restaurants in New South Wales, the ACT and the Northern Territory. Its four companies had one director and chief executive, Ms Yi Jeong (Rebecca) Shin. The Fair Work Ombudsman sued over the pay of 163 workers, about 73% of the workforce, between 29 February 2016 and 26 January 2020. Most were on temporary visas.

The court found two schemes. Under the "Dual Rate Method", staff were paid award rates by bank transfer for a set number of hours, and the rest in cash at a lower "Sushi Bay Cash Rate". One pay guide listed award rates for a level 1 attendant of $20.06 an hour on weekdays, $25.08 on Saturdays and $30.09 on Sundays, and a cash rate of $15 for all three. Couriers took cash envelopes to the restaurants each fortnight.

Under the "Deduction Method", sponsored 457 visa workers found slips in their envelopes saying how much to pay back. One chef withdrew the cash and put it in the envelope for head office; some repayments went into Ms Shin's personal account. Justice Katzmann found the workers got no benefit, and that, depending on the company for their visas, they were unlikely to have had "any effective choice".

Payroll records showed only the "taxable" hours: 76 in one fortnight for a chef whose actual hours, on the company's own spreadsheet, were 119.5. False records went to Fair Work inspectors. Even after another court penalised Sushi Bay ACT and Ms Shin in 2019, the practices continued.

Underpayments totalled $653,129.97. The court imposed penalties of $3.2 million, $5.8 million, $2.4 million and $2.3 million on the four companies and $1.6 million on Ms Shin. The companies are in liquidation, and the liquidator said they "cannot comply" with orders to repay the workers. The court ordered Ms Shin's penalty to be paid to the Ombudsman and shared among the underpaid workers in proportion to their losses.