A Queensland potato farm has been penalised for unlawfully deducting visa workers’ pay.

The Federal Circuit and Family Court imposed a $43,000 penalty against McCrystal Agricultural Services Pty Ltd, which operates a farm west of Bundaberg at South Kolan. In addition, the court imposed a $5500 penalty against the sole director Russell McCrystal.

The penalties were imposed against McCrystal Agricultural Services for a range of contraventions in 2021 and 2022. These included breaching the Fair Work Act by fining workers under the company’s alcohol policy and unlawfully deducting overtime overpayments and health insurance premium payments from the workers’ pay.

Mr McCrystal was penalised for his involvement in the alcohol policy deductions contravention alone.

The company rectified the underpayments after they were identified by the Fair Work Ombudsman and proactively amended its alcohol policy to remove the fines.

FWO Anna Booth says the litigation highlights the importance the workplace regulator places on the rights of visa holders.

“The visa holder workers underpaid in this case were highly reliant on their employer. Acting to protect visa holder workers and ensuring compliance with workplace laws across the agriculture sector are priorities for the FWO,” she says.

“That focus includes ensuring any deductions from the wages of vulnerable visa holder workers are lawful and appropriate. Where they are not, we will hold employers to account, and significant penalties may follow.

“Deductions are lawful only in a limited range of situations, and employers making them must understand those laws. We have a range of information to help employers get it right.”

The FWO investigated the employer proactively because of its status as an approved employer under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme.