The LHA’s case further alleges that four individual farms engaged the unlicensed company Soo Soo Siong Pty Ltd to provide workers.
Maximum penalties of over $660,000 apply under the Labour Hire Licensing Act 2018 (Vic) for companies using unlicensed labour hire services.
The farms allegedly paid the company a total of about $750,000 over an 11-month period for labour hire services such as picking and packing fruit and vegetables.
The authority alleges that one person effectively confined a person to a property and restaurant in Swan Hill for over three years, and used their name and passport — without their knowledge or consent — to open a bank account and apply for a labour hire licence.
Under Victorian law, businesses require a labour hire licence to supply horticulture workers to hosts to perform tasks such as picking, sorting, packing or planting fruit or vegetables.
The LHA’s investigation into the alleged contraventions began following a tip-off reporting that a person was paying workers in cash at below the legal minimum rate under the Horticulture Award.
As well as addressing allegedly unlawful conduct by the labour hire provider, the case against the four farms reflects the LHA’s increased focus on host businesses’ use of unlicensed labour hire operators.
A labour hire company and its director who exploited workers and targeted Nepalese migrants was issued penalties of $830,000 after legal action by the LHA in June.
The outcome represents the largest ever total penalty for breaches of labour hire law in Australia, reflecting unlawful conduct over several years across major Victorian horticulture regions.
Mountain Harvesting Pty Ltd received more than $2.6 million in revenue by supplying over a hundred labour hire workers to farms in Woorinen and Tatura without a licence, across two and a half years.
Mountain Harvesting was penalised $750,000 and company director Hom Dawadi was penalised $80,000 for involvement in the contraventions.
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