Ram v D&D Indian Fine Food Pty Ltd [2015] FCCA 389: Employment Akin to Slavery
Wednesday 1 April 2015 @ 10.05 a.m. | Industrial Law
The Federal Circuit Court has handed down its decision in the case of Ram v D&D Indian Fine Food Pty Ltd & Anor [2015] FCCA 389. The court found that Divye Kumar Trivedi, owner and operator of D&D Indian Fine Food, had falsified a number of legal documents provided to the Australian Tax Office and the Department of Immigration in relation to a worker’s employment.
Facts
Trivedi had approached a 45-year old Indian national Dulo Ram to work in Australia in 2007. He sponsored Mr Ram as a cook through the 457 Visa program. In actuality, the arrangement was one for human trafficking and the sponsorship was nothing more than a sham to deceive relevant Australian government bodies. Mr Ram spoke no English and began to work in Mr Trivedi’s restaurant in Eastwood for seven days a week, 12 hours a day for more than 16 months. He was paid throughout that period only $6,958.88.
Mr Ram described his position as akin to that of slavery. He was forced to live in a small storeroom next to the restaurant’s kitchen and was forced to bathe in the kitchen using a hot bucket of water. When the Department of Immigration would visit the restaurant, it was “fobbed with lies and fabricated documents”. Mr Ram had been instructed exactly what to say when visited. The Court found this to be unsurprising as Mr Ram "spoke no English, was alone in this country, was under a trafficking debt, and was afraid".
Mr Ram finally escaped his condition and went to the police. It was later described before the Court that Mr Trivedi had built an elaborate set of sham documents to deceive government departments. False wage books and time records were created by Mr Trivedi, and a false bank account controlled by Mr Trivedi was opened in Mr Ram's name.
Decision
Justice Driver said Trivedi went to great lengths to deceive the authorities. He found that Trivedi had grotesquely abused the 457 visa programme and that Mr Ram had been trafficked to Australia for “exploitation in breach of Australian law.” Mr Ram was covered by the Restaurants Employees (State) Award, and the Court ordered that Mr Trivedi and his company pay $125,431.22 for wages, superannuation and annual leave for the 16 month period, as well as a further $60,607.81 in interest on the judgment sum.
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