Four FWO Enforcement Actions in One Week: What Happens When Employers Ignore a Compliance Notice
The Pattern: Four Cases, One Common Thread
Each of the four businesses below received a Compliance Notice from the FWO. A Compliance Notice is not a suggestion. It is a formal legal direction requiring an employer to pay outstanding wages, entitlements, or superannuation within a set timeframe. When employers ignore that notice, the FWO escalates. The penalties grow significantly.
In 2024-25, the FWO secured more than $870,000 in penalties specifically related to Compliance Notice non-compliance. These four cases in a single week show that escalation is ongoing and deliberate.
Case 1: Nara Lounge — $181,068 Owed, Company Now Liquidated
Nara Lounge, a Japanese restaurant in Sydney operated by the Jabbour family, underpaid 69 workers a combined $181,068. Many of those workers were on visas, making them particularly vulnerable to exploitation.
The FWO issued a Compliance Notice. The business did not comply. By the time court action was filed on 4 May 2026, the company had been placed into liquidation. There was no business left to pursue.
The FWO’s response: go after the directors personally.
Court action has been filed against the Jabbour family in their individual capacity. This is a significant development. It signals that liquidating a business to escape a wage debt is not a clean exit. Directors who direct, authorise, or are knowingly involved in non-compliance can face personal liability.
For the 69 workers, recovery is not guaranteed. Liquidation proceedings are complex, and workers are typically unsecured creditors, which means they can end up at the back of the queue. This is precisely why acting early, before a business collapses, matters so much.
Source: fairwork.gov.au, 4 May 2026 media release
Case 2: ISHINE International — $14,554 Penalty for Ignoring Compliance Notice
ISHINE International, a cleaning company operated by Mr Pather, underpaid migrant workers and then failed to act on a Compliance Notice for months.
The court imposed a penalty of $14,554. Cleaning is one of Australia’s most underpayment-affected industries, and migrant workers in that sector face heightened risk: language barriers, unfamiliarity with Australian workplace law, and fear of visa consequences can all discourage workers from raising concerns.
The FWO took this case precisely because the employer had already been given a clear path to compliance and refused to take it.
Source: fairwork.gov.au, 7 May 2026 media release
Case 3: Metisse Fine Dining — $33,600 Penalty for Exploiting Visa Holders
Metisse, a fine dining restaurant, underpaid French visa holders and ignored a Compliance Notice. The court ordered penalties of $33,600.
Hospitality continues to feature prominently in FWO enforcement. Working holiday and other visa holders are disproportionately represented in underpayment cases. The combination of temporary visa status, limited workplace experience in Australia, and often informal employment arrangements creates conditions where exploitation can go unchallenged.
Acting FWO Rachel Volzke has stated publicly that Compliance Notice non-compliance is treated seriously, and these penalties reflect that position.
Source: fairwork.gov.au, 8 May 2026 media release
Case 4: Cedar Dough Bakery — Facing $99,000 in Penalties
Cedar Dough Bakery, a Chatswood restaurant, faces a potential penalty of $99,000 for ignoring a Fair Work Compliance Notice. Proceedings are ongoing.
The scale of the potential penalty relative to the others in this week’s cluster reflects how courts can take into account the nature, duration, and impact of non-compliance when determining penalty amounts.
Source: Hospitality Magazine
What Is a Compliance Notice?
A Compliance Notice is a formal written direction issued by a Fair Work Inspector. It tells an employer to fix a specific workplace breach within a set period: paying outstanding wages or entitlements, keeping proper records, or providing payslips.
It is issued after an investigation has already found a contravention. By the time a Compliance Notice lands, the FWO has gathered evidence. Ignoring it is not a strategy. It converts a recoverable underpayment situation into a penalties-plus-underpayment situation.
Key points:
- Compliance Notices are legally binding
- Employers who fail to comply can face court-imposed penalties on top of any amount owed
- There is no penalty cap that makes ignoring a notice cost-effective at scale
- Personal liability can attach to company directors in some circumstances
What Happens When Employers Ignore a Compliance Notice?
The FWO does not simply reissue the notice. Non-compliance triggers escalation:
- The FWO refers the matter to its Litigation Branch for consideration of court action
- The employer faces civil penalty proceedings in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia
- Courts can impose penalties per contravention, and each payslip failure or underpayment event can be a separate contravention
- In serious cases, the FWO may also seek injunctions or orders requiring compliance
The $870,000-plus secured in Compliance Notice penalties during 2024-25 represents cases where employers bet on inaction and lost.
What Workers Should Do
If you suspect you are being underpaid or your employer is not meeting their obligations, here is a practical path forward.
Step 1: Know your baseline. Use the Fair Work Commission’s Pay Calculator at fairwork.gov.au to find the minimum wage, penalty rates, and entitlements for your award or agreement.
Step 2: Check your payslips. Employers are required by law to provide payslips within one working day of pay day. If yours are missing, incorrect, or never arrive, that is itself a breach.
Step 3: Record everything. Keep copies of your payslips, rosters, timesheets, and any written communications about your pay. Notes on your phone about hours worked and when you were paid can be valuable.
Step 4: Raise it internally (if safe to do so). Some underpayments are administrative errors. A direct conversation with your employer or payroll team can resolve genuine mistakes quickly.
Step 5: Contact Fair Work. The Fair Work Ombudsman’s contact number is 13 13 94 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 5:30pm, local time). You can also lodge an anonymous tip or a formal complaint via fairwork.gov.au. Anonymous reports are taken seriously and can trigger inspections.
Step 6: Use a recovery tool. Platforms like Justiico let you run a confidential audit of your recent pay against your award entitlements so you know whether the numbers add up before you take the next step.
A Balanced Perspective
It is worth noting that not every underpayment is intentional. Australia’s award system is genuinely complex. There are more than 120 modern awards, each with different rates for different classifications, times of day, and types of work. Small businesses in particular can struggle to keep up with annual award increases and penalty rate structures.
That said, a Compliance Notice is not issued after a first question is asked. It follows an investigation. The employers in these four cases had already been through that process. The penalties imposed reflect deliberate non-compliance with a formal legal direction, not administrative confusion.
Workers should feel confident raising concerns. Employers who receive a Compliance Notice should treat it as urgent, not optional.
Pro Tip
If you work in hospitality, cleaning, or as a visa holder in any industry, your risk of underpayment is statistically higher than the Australian average. Running a pay audit costs you nothing but a few minutes. Knowing what you are owed gives you the information you need to decide what to do next.
Start Your Free Audit at justiico.com/resources/fwo-four-enforcement-actions-may-2026/ or Check Your Pay Now at Justiico.
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