The owners of a Brisbane cafe have been fined more than $180,000 after illegally forcing a foreign worker to hand back $18,000 of his wages.

Federal Court Judge Michael Jarrett fined Saandeep Chokhani $30,000 and imposed a further $150,000 penalty against the company he and his wife owned over the unlawful cash-back arrangement.

The worker was threatened with visa cancellation if he didn't pay back $18,000. Credit:Glenn Hunt

The court found Mr Chokhani, who then owned and operated a Coffee Club franchise at Nundah, had failed to pay the Indian national any wages for four months from July to November 2014 and for another four weeks in Feburary/March 2015.

He then transferred just over $19,300 to the worker, only to ask him to pay back $18,000 and in 2015 threatened to have the worker's 457 visa cancelled unless he complied.