One cafe was caught docking staff pay for burnt omelettes.
Fair Work Ombudsman fines cafes that dock pay for torn notes, burnt omelettes
A Melbourne cafe has been docking staff pay as punishment if they have collected torn cash notes or the cash register didn't add up.
The Fair Work Ombudsman has fined the Doncaster restaurant for taking staff pay if the cash register was short, for accepting cash notes that were torn and for breakages.
It is now required to repay staff almost $9000. But it's not the first time a cafe has unlawfully penalised employees.Last year a Perth cafe was fined after it was found to have docked employee pay for being five minutes late for work, the wrong placement of tomato in a sandwich and serving cold pizza.The cafe docked $30 from staff if tomato was placed in the wrong layer of a club sandwich, $18.90 if a hair was found in a breakfast dish, $12 for overcooking a waffle or burning an omelette, $12 for serving cold pizza and $10 for failing to prepare parsley for the following day.
Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James said deductions from wages as punishment or a performance management tool were unlawful."Clearly these deductions only benefited the employer, which is why we have taken this matter seriously and sought a commitment from the business this behaviour will not be repeated," Ms James said.
Source: Australian Financial Review, Lucille Keen, July 14th 2015
