STAFF REPORTER

The owner of the Venezia Restaurant in Pier Street, Perth, is being prosecuted for allegedly underpaying two kitchen staff a total of $78,000.

Facing Court is owner-manager Vincenzo Salvatore Todaro.

The Fair Work Ombudsman alleges Mr Todaro was personally involved in underpaying a cook $53,635 and a kitchen-hand $24,419 between March, 2006 and December, 2007.

The workers, an immigrant husband-and-wife from China who spoke little English, were hired at the restaurant through VST Pty Ltd, a company operated by Mr Todaro.

The workers successfully sued VST in 2010, securing orders in the WA Industrial Magistrates Court for outstanding entitlements to be back-paid, including the $78,054.

The court found the two had regularly been paid less than $10 an hour, leading to them each being underpaid hundreds of dollars a week.

However, soon after the court ruling, VST ceased trading and ownership was transferred to a new company, also owned by Mr Todaro.

This left the two workers unable to secure back-payment from VST.

The Ombudsman is now asking the WA Industrial Magistrates Court to find that Mr Todaro was personally involved in the underpayments.

If successful, the Ombudsman will ask the Court to impose penalties against Mr Todaro and to order that the penalties be paid to the two workers to help rectify the underpayment.

The Ombudsman alleges Mr Todaro was involved in 10 contraventions of workplace laws.

The maximum potential penalty per contravention is $6600.

Photo: Saša Prosen