AUSTRALIA | Operation Crimson has grilled eateries on the Gold Coast as surprise visit investigations into management are underway.
Gold Coast fast food outlets, restaurants and cafés have received surprise visits from the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) as part of Operation Crimson.
Operation Crimson involved the two regulators inspecting about 25 eateries, in Nerang and surrounding suburbs, to check they are paying employees correctly, and complying with record-keeping, tax and super laws. The federal agencies also visited some Broadbeach businesses the FWO had previously inspected.
The targeted inspections were based on factors such as anonymous reports to the FWO from employees, a history of non-compliance, or employment of vulnerable workers such as visa holders.
Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said ensuring food sector employers are paying workers all they are owed and meeting their record-keeping obligations is a priority for the FWO.
“Improving compliance with workplace laws in the fast food, restaurants and cafés industry is a priority for us, as the sector employs many workers who can be vulnerable to exploitation, such as visa holders and young people,” Booth said.
“These Gold Coast inspections combine first-time visits to many employers and revisits to some others, and are part of our efforts to ensure any who are doing the wrong thing are found out and held to account. Workers must receive all owed wages and superannuation.”
Booth added that it’s also important for visa holders in the sector to know they have the same workplace rights as all other workers and are encouraged to reach out to the FWO for assistance.
ATO Assistant Commissioner Tony Goding said cooking the books by ripping off your workers or dodging your tax and super obligations doesn’t pass the pub test.
“Fast food outlets, cafés and restaurants operating in the shadow economy deliberately disadvantage honest businesses, short-change the community and steal from their employees’ futures,” Goding said.
“That’s why we’ve been out and about on the Gold Coast this week with the Fair Work Ombudsman to investigate.”
Goding noted that Operation Crimson has revealed a number of concerning practices.
“If you run a business, take this as your warning that you can’t get away with exploiting your workers or ripping off the community,” Goding said.
“At the ATO we have a range of sophisticated methods to detect shadow economy activities and we also work closely with our partner agencies like the Fair Work Ombudsman to catch out those doing the wrong thing, including regularly sharing intelligence and community tip-offs. Where we discover deliberate wrongdoing, significant penalties will apply.”
Investigations are continuing.
For the FWO, Operation Crimson is part of its national Food Precincts Program of surprise inspections of fast food outlets, restaurants and cafés, commonly in “cheap eats” precincts.
The Fair Work Ombudsman previously recovered more than AUD 215,700 in wages for nearly 450 underpaid workers after auditing 50 Gold Coast eateries in and around Southport and Broadbeach in 2020, with 88 percent of those businesses non-compliant with workplace laws.
The FWO secured more than AUD 16 million in court-ordered penalties against employers in the fast food, restaurants and cafés sector nationally in 2024-25.
These penalties included the FWO’s largest ever penalty of AUD 15.3 million against the former operators of Sushi Bay outlets, for deliberately exploiting vulnerable migrant workers.
The FWO has targeted information for employers and employees in the fast food, restaurants and cafés industry, and any franchisees.
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