The company liquidated, the outlets closed, and the workers are still owed $125,241
Fifty-three workers are still waiting for their money. The company that owed it to them no longer exists.
The Federal Circuit and Family Court has penalised the sole director of a Sydney labour hire company $8,415 after he admitted his involvement in the company's failure to comply with a Fair Work compliance notice - essentially, a formal order to back-pay underpaid workers.
The compliance notice required NLHR Management Pty Ltd to pay $127,467 to dozens of workers supplied to two Nara Lounge restaurant-and-shisha-lounge outlets at Hurstville and Pendle Hill in Sydney. The workers, who included visa holders and young workers, were employed at the outlets between 2022 and 2024.
The notice was never satisfied.
NLHR Management went into liquidation. Both outlets closed. And $125,241, plus superannuation, remains outstanding for 53 of those workers. Individual amounts owed range from $60 to $10,459.
How the investigation started
Fair Work Inspectors visited the Hurstville outlet as part of a proactive auditing campaign and opened an investigation. In December 2024, an inspector issued the compliance notice after forming a belief that workers had been underpaid minimum wages for ordinary hours, penalty rates for weekend and public holiday work, and annual leave entitlements owed under the Restaurant Industry Award 2020 and the National Employment Standards in the Fair Work Act.
The company did not comply. The Fair Work Ombudsman took the matter to court.
Ten other companies
The director admitted his involvement in NLHR Management's breach. The court imposed the $8,415 penalty - a fraction of the $127,467 the notice required.
The court noted the director remained a director of several companies, and found that a penalty was needed as a deterrent. In its reasons, the court observed that "specific deterrence is important because the respondent is a director of 10 other companies and his businesses may employ staff in the future."
That detail sat at the centre of the court's reasoning. The penalty was not just about what happened at Nara Lounge. It was about what might happen next.
Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said directors involved in failing to act on compliance notices needed to be aware they could face court-imposed penalties. "When Compliance Notices are not followed, we will continue to take legal action to protect employees," Ms Booth said. She added that improving compliance in the fast food, restaurants and cafes sector and protecting migrant workers remained priorities for the regulator.
The Fair Work Ombudsman noted that the liquidation of NLHR Management had restricted its ability to secure back-payment for the affected workers.
For HR teams and directors in labour hire and hospitality, the arithmetic tells the story: $8,415 in penalties, $125,241 still owed to workers, and a company that no longer exists to pay it.
