‘Calculated and audacious’: Massive fines for sushi chain which exploited staff

Former Sushi Bay outlet operators are facing record penalties of $15.3 million for exploiting migrant workers, including underpaying staff $653,129 between February 2016 and January 2020.

This is the highest amount of penalties the Fair Work Ombudsman has secured in a legal action to date, surpassing the $10.3 million against the Commonwealth Bank and CommSec earlier this year.

The Federal Court imposed penalties of $3.2 million against Sushi Bay Pty Ltd, $5.8 million against Sushi Bay ACT Pty Ltd, $2.4 million against Auskobay Pty Ltd and $2.3 million against Auskoja Pty Ltd.

The outlets traded as Sushi Bay, except for one store located at Miranda Westfield, which traded as Moduwa Ramen and Bar. They have now closed, except the one at Campbelltown, which is under the control of a liquidator.

The court also imposed a $1.6 million penalty against Yi Jeong ‘Rebecca’ Shin, the Sydney-based owner and sole director of the companies. The companies were found to have falsified records to cover up the underpayments.

The Fair Work Ombudsman found that the companies underpaid 163 workers, mostly Korean nationals holding student, working holiday and 457 skilled worker visas, most of them aged under 25 and employed as cooks, kitchen assistants and serving staff.

The underpayment occurred at outlets in NSW’s Carlingford, Campbelltown, Charlestown, Forster, Glendale, Liverpool, Merrylands, Miranda, Miranda Westfield, Parramatta, Penrith, Rouse Hill, Shellharbour, and Wollongong. Further infractions took place at Darwin and Canberra.

“This is yet another case of the exploitation of immigrant workers and a shameless but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to conceal it,” said Justice Anna Katzmann, who described the behaviour as “calculated and audacious.”

This is not the first time Shin has been caught underpaying workers. In 2019, Shin and Sushi Bay ACT faced penalties of $124,416 for underpaying workers, many of whom were migrants.

Shin and another company associated with her, which operated Sushi Bay restaurants in Queensland also failed audits and had been cautioned in previous years.

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