The Fair Work Ombudsman has commenced legal action in relation to a sixth United Petroleum outlet, alleging the former operator of a store in Melbourne’s south-east underpaid a migrant worker.

Facing court is Satarupa Patel, a sole trader and the former commission agent of a United Petroleum outlet on the Princes Highway at Hallam.

The Fair Work Ombudsman alleges that Ms Patel paid the employee, an Indian national who was on a temporary resident visa at the time, unlawfully low flat rates of no more than $15 per hour.

The FWO alleges this resulted in underpayments of his minimum hourly rates, overtime entitlements, and higher rates for weekend and public holiday work.

It is alleged that the worker was, for example, entitled to be paid minimum hourly rates of at least $28.38, and additional payments of at least $15.81 per hour of overtime worked...

...underpaying the worker a total of $9,271 between October 2020 to March 2021...

The proceedings are the latest legal action by the Fair Work Ombudsman against former operators of United Petroleum-branded outlets, which follow a FWO investigation into the United Petroleum network commenced in response to concerns about non-compliance.

The investigation involved audits of 20 United Petroleum-branded outlets across Tasmania, Queensland, NSW, Victoria and South Australia.

Total penalties from concluded litigations have exceeded $230,000 to date...