Operating with little regard for two separate Compliance Notices, the operator of a Sydney cleaning business has now been hit with a combined $21,114 in penalties and back-pay orders following Federal Circuit and Family Court proceedings. Julie-Ann Shotter, who runs Jules Domestic Cleaning as a sole trader, was found to have been “untruthful” with Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) investigators throughout their inquiry, resulting in a $12,840 penalty on top of orders to back-pay two former casual cleaners.
Having employed one of the workers as a casual cleaner between October 2021 and January 2022, Shotter paid the worker for only one of the 13 weeks she was engaged, an oversight that went unresolved until after the worker’s death in 2023. A second worker, a Brazilian international student, received no wages at all for three days of work carried out in March 2023. The Court ordered Shotter to make back-payments totalling $8274, comprising $7819 owed to the deceased worker’s estate and $455 to the international student, along with additional superannuation and interest.
Fair Work Inspectors had issued Compliance Notices to Shotter in October 2022 and November 2023 after forming the view that she had underpaid both workers below the minimum rates set by the Cleaning Services Award 2020. During proceedings, the FWO presented evidence that Shotter had claimed to have settled her obligation to the deceased worker via a cash payment made as the worker’s “dying wish”, before later admitting the amount remained unpaid in full.
Court finds pattern of dishonesty
Judge Amanda Given concluded that Shotter had been untruthful on a number of occasions in her dealings with the FWO, finding it open to infer that the untruths were deliberate. The judgement noted a lack of remorse on Shotter’s part and the need for a penalty carrying enough sting to discourage similar conduct in future, both from Shotter and from other operators across the cleaning industry.
Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said the case demonstrated that inspectors would persist even when an employer had misled investigators or when a worker had since died. Booth added that protecting migrant workers remained a priority for the agency, and encouraged any employees with pay concerns to contact the FWO or their union for assistance.
In the 2024-25 financial year, the FWO secured more than $870,000 in court penalties for failures to comply with Compliance Notices and, over the past eight financial years, has filed 171 litigations involving visa holder workers, securing $39 million in penalties across those matters.
