More than $77,000 worth of penalties has been secured against a former Caltex franchisee in Sydney after the Fair Work Ombudsman uncovered a history of falsified wages and exploitation of migrant workers.

On Friday, the Federal Circuit Court penalised former franchisee Mohammad Arif Rana $11,540 in addition to issuing a further $66,168 against his family’s company Abdul Wahid and Sons Pty Ltd for breaches of the Fair Work Act.

The company formerly operated a number of franchised Caltex services stations, including two outlets in Sydney’s north-west at Dural and Ermington, where the non-compliance was found to have taken place.

Fair Work Inspectors investigated the two outlets in December 2016 as part of a national plan to audit Caltex service stations after concerns were raised by employees.

Caltex, which announced it would cease franchising in February last year, then faced a series of questioning at the parliamentary inquiry after it was found that three quarters of audited sites had serious breaches of workplace law.

Mr Rana and the company admitted they knowingly provided inspectors with falsified records, contravening laws requiring employers to issue employees with accurate pay slips with one day of payday.

Sandra Parker, Fair Work Ombudsman said the introduction of the Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Vulnerable Workers) Act in September 2017 meant that any operator found to be providing misleading records could now face increased penalties u to $126,000 per breach.

“Any employer who deliberately frustrates our audits by using false records should take note that higher maximum penalties now apply, and prosecution in a criminal court is possible for the most serious cases,” Parker said.

“The Fair Work Ombudsman is also enforcing new reverse onus of proof laws that require employers to disprove underpayment allegations in Court when they have failed to keep accurate time and wages records. We urge any workers who are receiving incorrect information about time and wages on pay slips, or not receiving them, to contact us.”

Additionally, most if not all employees who suffered from the contraventions were from migrant backgrounds, which has emerged as an unflattering trend in workplace law investigations.

Early this year, a former 7-Eleven franchisee in Melbourne was issued over $335,000 in fines for unlawful behaviour and underpayment relating to a number of international students under its employ, adding to the growing list of migrant worker exploitation reported last year.

Unfortunately for the workers, the absence of accurate time and wages records prevented inspectors from performing a full audit to determine whether they had been paid their full lawful entitlements.

As a result, the FWO issued Abdul Wahid and Sons Pty Ltd with a Notice to Produce, with Mr Rana and the company providing timesheets, payroll records and pay slips relating to the hours worked and wage rates for the 15 Dural and Ermington employees.

Judge Nicholas Manousaridis said the decision to enforce penalties highlighted the importance for franchisees and indeed all employers to keep valid and accurate records, or face harsh consequences.

“When an employer does not make and keep records in relation to employees, an effective safety net for the employees is difficult to maintain and results in those employees being more vulnerable to exploitation,” his Honour said.