Fair Work Ombudsman v Hiyi Pty Ltd

The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) brought proceedings against Hiyi Pty Ltd (Hiyi) in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia. The dispute concerned Hiyi's alleged contravention of the *Fair Work Act 2009* (Cth) (the Act) by failing to pay an employee, Ms. Chen, her minimum entitlements under the applicable modern award, the *Fast Food Industry Award 2010*. The FWO sought pecuniary penalties for these alleged breaches.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether Hiyi had contravened section 45 of the Act by failing to pay Ms. Chen the minimum wages and entitlements as prescribed by the *Fast Food Industry Award 2010* for the period of her employment. This required the Court to determine the correct interpretation and application of the award provisions to Ms. Chen's employment circumstances and to assess whether Hiyi's payments met those minimum requirements.

Judge Jones found that Hiyi had indeed contravened the Act. The Court reasoned that Hiyi had failed to pay Ms. Chen the correct minimum hourly rate, overtime entitlements, and penalty rates for weekend and public holiday work as stipulated by the *Fast Food Industry Award 2010*. The Court rejected Hiyi's submissions that certain payments made were sufficient to cover these entitlements, finding that the payments were not properly allocated or calculated in accordance with the award. The Court applied the principles of statutory interpretation to the award provisions and found that Hiyi had not discharged its obligations to pay minimum entitlements.

Consequently, the Court ordered Hiyi Pty Ltd to pay pecuniary penalties totalling $10,800 for its contraventions of the *Fair Work Act 2009* (Cth). Hiyi was also ordered to pay Ms. Chen the outstanding amount of her minimum entitlements, which amounted to $1,978.50.