A Perth Federal Court judge has deemed the owners of a Han’s Cafe franchise “recklessly indifferent” to WA’s fair work laws after they underpaid workers by nearly $30,000.

A tip-off led the Fair Work Ombudsman to investigate Han’s Cafe in Rockingham, and it was soon found the franchise had underpaid 22 staff by $27,920 between December 2014 and 2015.

The underpaid employees included nine juniors aged between 17 and 19, and seven overseas workers - mostly international students - from Vietnam.

Han's Cafe.

They were employed as kitchen attendants, cooks and food-and-beverage attendants and during their employment period were paid flat rates below minimum wage, denied public holiday rates and were not provided with proper payslips over the course of the year.