The cleaners were allegedly underpaid minimum wage rates

The former directors of a cleaning company in Australia have been accused of sham contracting and underpayment of five migrant cleaners, according to the country’s workplace regulator.

Timothy Baxter Chambers and Craig Richard Simpson of ProClean HQ are facing federal court charges after allegedly misclassifying the workers as independent contractors, despite them being subject to company rules and not being allowed to subcontract. Fair Work Ombudsman

Sandra Parker, Fair Work Ombudsman said: “Sham contracting is extremely serious conduct because it involves employers knowingly or recklessly misrepresenting to workers that they have less lawful rights than they actually do, and it often goes hand in hand with exploitation of vulnerable workers”.

The cleaners were allegedly underpaid minimum wage rates, overtime rates, casual loadings, weekend and public holiday penalty rates, shift loading and allowances, and are owed over AUD 125,000.