The Fair Work Commission ordered the company to pay $31,280 compensation to the manager and $19,697.20 compensation to the shop assistant, within three weeks.

The regulator investigated after receiving a request for assistance from a young worker who was employed at the restaurant.

Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said that employers in the agriculture sector, including labour hire companies, that underpay vulnerable workers risk facing significant consequences.

“Improving compliance in the fast food, restaurant and café industry, which employs many vulnerable workers, including in franchises, continues to be a priority for us.”

Suncorp first identified underpayments after commencing an internal review into specific pay and leave practices and its rostering systems.

The Fair Work Commission’s decision, being 0.75 of a percentage point above market expectations, means the national wages bill will be only 0.08% (less than one-thousandth) greater than expected.

Some workers also performed gardening and trolley collecting duties.

ABF officers identified 11 failures relating to its sponsorship obligations, nine of which included underpayment of sponsored workers. 

The FWO has filed 126 litigations involving visa holder workers, and secured more than $13.4 million in court-ordered penalties in visa holder litigations, in the last five full financial years.

The Court also ordered Mehtaab Group to pay the outstanding FWC order for unfair dismissal compensation, plus superannuation, and to calculate and back-pay the annual leave entitlements owing to the worker.