The former owner of a Canberra massage business has denied doing anything wrong after being accused of threatening to have the families of his employees killed if they spoke up about alleged unfair working conditions.
Foot and Thai Massage, its former owner Colin Elvin and another man, Jun Millard Puerto, are being pursued by the Fair Work Ombudsman in the Federal Court over alleged breaches of the Fair Work Act.
The business is now in liquidation and has debts of more than $1 million, including $400,000 owed to the Australian Tax Office and more than $600,000 to the unpaid workers.
The allegations against the company and the two men include that they underpaid seven workers between June 2012 and January 2016.
The Fair Work Ombudsman says the workers were required to work unreasonable hours, that they were not paid annual leave or other entitlements and that appropriate payment records were not kept.
Boss claims allegations are made up
In a hearing in the Federal Court on Friday, lawyers for the Ombudsman also detailed allegations Mr Elvin had told the women, through Mr Puerto, that if they complained he would send them back to the Philippines.
He allegedly said in some cases the workers' families would be killed if they disclosed their working conditions to the government.
But Mr Elvin told the court that wasn't true.
Mr Elvin said the wording of the complaints were remarkably similar.
"There was a follow-the-leader pattern," he said.
Mr Elvin also took issue with claims he had not met his obligations to provide fair pay and conditions under the award.
He told the court his workers should not have been paid under the Hair and Beauty Award since none had an Australian massage qualification.
Lawyers for the Ombudsman have told the Federal Court a second group of six workers were made to pay back $800 a fortnight when the business was not doing well. The court heard that was not recorded on the payslips, which is also a breach of workplace laws.
The case has seen long delays, partly because of COVID-19.
The Fair Work Ombudsman is hoping to claim back the money owed to the workers, as well as imposing substantial fines.
A decision in the case is expected next year.
