Foot and Thai Massage boss allegedly threatens to kill families of ... - NEWS.com.au

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A FORMER massage parlour boss accused of exploiting seven Filipino workers allegedly threatened to have their families killed if they complained to the Immigration Department.


Canberra man Colin Kenneth Elvin, who owned and operated the Foot & Thai massage parlour in Belconnen from 2011 to 2016, is facing Federal Court in civil proceedings brought by the Fair Work Ombudsman.

Also facing court is the massage parlour’s former supervisor, Filipino man Jun Millard Puerto, who was sponsored by Mr Elvin’s company on a 457 visa and who helped recruit the workers on visits to the Philippines.

The FWO alleges the workers, six women and one man aged in their 20s and 30s, were “systematically exploited” between June 2012 and February 2016, during which time they were collectively underpaid a total of $912,809.

The group were allegedly provided accommodation at a house in the suburb of Higgins, where the gates were locked overnight to curtail their movement outside of work hours. They were transported from the Higgins property to the massage parlour and back in a van each working day.

Mr Elvin allegedly made “threats and instructions” on an “ongoing basis”, using Mr Puerto as a translator, ordering the employees not to tell anyone the truth about their working conditions.

He allegedly threatened to send the employees back to the Philippines and “directly or indirectly threatened the employees that [he] would arrange to kill their families in the Philippines” if they reported him to the Immigration Department, court documents state.

Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James said the case involved some of the most shocking allegations her agency had encountered. “We allege that these seven workers were deliberately targeted because of their vulnerability and exploited for profit,” she said.

“We allege that the threats made to these employees were ongoing while they were in Australia and designed to conceal the way they were being callously exploited. This type of conduct has no place in Australia and it deserves utter condemnation and appropriate sanctioning.”

The FWO alleges Mr Elvin and Mr Puerto recruited the seven workers by promising them annual salaries of $52,000. In Australia, they were required to work an average of 65 to 68 hours, from 9.45am to 10.30pm six days per week, but were generally only paid for 38 hours.

Six of the employees were also allegedly required to make “cashback” payments of $800 per fortnight over a nine-month period when Mr Elvin deemed the shop was not getting enough income.

The court action alleges the conduct of Mr Elvin, Mr Puerto and Foot & Thai Massage Pty Ltd breached provisions of the Fair Work Act making it unlawful to coerce employees or take adverse action against them to prevent them from making a complaint about their employment.

The FWO also alleges the conduct amounted to workplace discrimination as well as breaching laws related to unauthorised deductions, unreasonable requirements to spend wages and knowingly providing misleading records, among others.

The workplace cop began investigating the business after a 2016 referral from the Australian Federal Police, which investigated the matter but did not lay any criminal charges.

Foot & Thai Massage went into voluntary administration in 2016 and is now under new directorship and ownership. The new owners and directors of the company have not been accused of any wrongdoing.

Under a deed of company arrangement entered into in 2016, the workers were back-paid a fraction of their entitlements but are still owed a total of $767,926, with individual amounts outstanding ranging from $92,136 to $125,669, according to the FWO.

The FWO is seeking penalties of up to $54,000 per contravention for Foot & Thai Massage Pty Ltd and up to $10,800 per contravention against Mr Elvin and Mr Puerto for multiple alleged contraventions of workplace laws.

The matter is listed for a case management hearing in the Federal Court in Canberra on August 21. Mr Elvin has been contacted for comment.

In a separate case earlier this year, two former employees, one of whom is named in the Fair Work Ombudsman’s case, took Mr Elvin to the Fair Work Commission alleging they were unfairly dismissed in 2015.

She told the hearing in March that she and other workers were told by Mr Elvin in 2012 that if they talked about what they were paid, “I am going to kill your families”, The Canberra Times reported.

“That is the reason why all the therapists are afraid of you,” she reportedly said to Mr Elvin. During the “fiery hearing”, the woman’s legal representative, Stefan Russell-Uren from the United Voice union, called Mr Elvin a “f***ing dog”, prompting a rebuke from Fair Work deputy president John Kovacic.

frank.chung@news.com.au


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