Fast food chain faces prosecution over workplace agreement

The Workplace Ombudsman has initiated a second prosecution against the Chilis chain of restaurants over allegations of unlawful treatment of its employees in the striking of Australian Workplace Agreements.

The Workplace Ombudsman started legal proceedings against Brinker Australia trading as Chili’s Texas Grill in Wollongong for alleged breaches of the Workplace Relations Act 1996 when making AWAs.

The second prosecution involves Restaurant Services Group as trustee for the RSG Trust and trading as Chillis as well as Imran Suleman and Trent Dawson, GM and assistant manager of Chillis Wollongong.

Nicholas Wilson, the Workplace Ombudsman, said “this is the Workplace Ombudsman’s second prosecution to protect young workers’ rights and it is a result of our ongoing probe into the treatment of young vulnerable workers by the food chain”.

“We allege that this conduct is at the higher end of offensive behaviour in the workplace and we will simply not tolerate it.”

“Our prosecution of the company effectively running Chillis, Restaurant Services Group also reinforces the Workplace Ombudsman’s clear message to rogue employers that we will relentlessly pursue those who contravene workers rights.”

“We will ruthlessly pierce the corporate veil to expose those corporate entities responsible and those individuals that seek to hide behind these structures in order to cravenly avoid scrutiny in these matters,” Wilson said.

If the Workplace Ombudsman’s case is proven Restaurant Services Group faces maximum penalties of up to $33,000 for each of nine alleged breaches of workplace law. Suleman and Dawson face maximum penalties of $6600 for five and two breaches of workplace respectively.

Inside Retail