Claims of underpayment in Nowra

A chef has claimed a Nowra restaurant owner has underpaid him by more than $200,000 over a period of less than two years

Midhun Basi claimed he had undergone months of 12-hour days, six days a week working at the Adithya Kerala restaurant in Nowra.

He quit the job on the weekend.

To back up his claim, he has kept time sheets showing he worked at least 70 hours a week. But for all those hours and all that work, he was only ever paid for 38. There was no overtime, and no penalty rates.

“We had to do all the work, including cleaning, delivery, preparing service," Basi told the ABC.

"Everything was getting a bit tough.”

What made it worse, he said, was that the restaurant owner, Vaisakh Usha, made him pay back $511 of his wages in cash each fortnight. Basi was told it was to help pay the restaurant's tax bills and rent.

His employer deducted the amount from his wages when Basi said he didn’t have the money to pay.

"I would not dare to ask him anything, because I was scared that maybe he [would] cancel my visa and send me back to India," Basi told the ABC.

"Whatever he said, I trusted him."

Mr Usha told the ABC that Basi worked long hours because he was slow, and refused to take breaks.

"He is the one who takes the decision to stay there that much hours," Mr Usha told the ABC.

"If he said to me, 'Boss, I am working this much hours, give me that much pay also', definitely I will give [it]. But he didn't say anything."

Mr Usha said his employee’s cash payments were taken to repay loans.

"Sometimes he takes $4,000, $5,000. Sometimes he is not giving [it] back. I am calling him, 'I need to pay my tax. Give that money'."

Mr Basi denied the claim that he had borrowed money from his employer.

Leon Gettler - 2nd August 2018