VEGGIE FARM SHAME: Australian Company Accused of Ripping Off 28 Migrant Workers of $645,000 in Wages
- Eastern Victorian farm allegedly underpaid workers from Kiribati, Timor Leste, and the Solomon Islands by up to $39,000 each
- Employees were paid a set weekly amount, regardless of hours worked, resulting in underpayments and unlawful deductions
- Fair Work Ombudsman is seeking penalties and Took out court action against Bulmer Farms, which faces fines of up to $93,900 per breach
Bulmer Farms, a prominent vegetable farm in eastern Victoria, is facing court action after being accused of underpaying 28 migrant workers a staggering $645,000. The Fair Work Ombudsman alleges that the company breached the Fair Work Act by paying workers a set weekly amount based on annual salaries, regardless of the number of hours they worked.
The workers, hired under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme, were paid between $884 and $1,105 per week for a 38-hour week, but were often required to work additional hours, resulting in underpayments of their minimum hourly rates, overtime rates, and public holiday work.
In a damning statement, Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said, “The alleged underpayments of migrant workers by Bulmer Farms across four years was entirely unacceptable, and we will be pursuing penalties to hold the company to account.”
“Employees must be paid for every hour they work. We’ve been calling this issue out for years — the law demands that workers are paid for the actual hours they work and employers cannot rely on default annualised salary-based payments if they have not factored in all entitlements for any extra hours worked.”
The ombudsman’s investigation also uncovered alleged breaches of record-keeping and payslip laws, with the company facing multiple breaches of the Fair Work Act, each attracting fines of up to $93,900.
In a statement, Bulmer Farms managing director Andrew Bulmer claimed the company did not intentionally underpay workers and is working with the ombudsman to rectify the situation. “The underpayments and deductions errors identified were totally unintentional and completely out of step with our company values.”
Uniting Church social justice advocate Mark Zirnsak welcomed the charges, saying, “This kind of strong action by the Fair Work Ombudsman is necessary to make sure employers understand they can’t rip off workers and get away with it.”
The case will be heard in the Federal Circuit and Family Court in Melbourne in January 2026.