P’Nut Street Noodles is facing legal action after allegedxly underpaying 118 workers nearly $1 million across its restaurants in Sydney, Brisbane, and the Sunshine Coast.
The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) has taken Sabcha – operator of 11 P’Nut Street Noodles – and company director Ankur Sehgal to the Federal Circuit and Family Court after finding out that their staff were underpaid a total of $976,463 between April 2019 and May 2021.
Most affected workers were migrant employees from Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, India, and Indonesia; where they worked as cooks, kitchen hands, and front-of-house staff.
Fair Work inspectors uncovered the underpayments during surprise audits triggered by multiple anonymous complaints.
The FWO claims Sabcha paid “unlawfully low” flat rates, leading to breaches of minimum wage, penalty rates, overtime pay, split-shift allowances, and leave entitlements.
The company is also accused of failing to meet record-keeping and pay slip obligations, including providing false or misleading wage records to inspectors.
FWO Anna Booth said underpaying vulnerable migrant workers and knowingly or recklessly providing false records was utterly unacceptable conduct.
“We are committed to using all powers at our disposal to protect vulnerable workers in this country, and to ensure that employers who deliberately or systematically breach the law face significant consequences,” Booth added.
Some of the alleged breaches fall under the Protecting Vulnerable Workers laws, which could result in penalties of up to $666,000 per serious contravention for the Sabcha, and Sehgal could face fines of up to $13,320 per breach.
The FWO is seeking a court order for the company to repay affected employees in full, including interest and superannuation. A directions hearing is scheduled for April 28.
