A Brisbane-based transport company has been ordered to pay more than $30,000 in penalties to the Fair Work Ombudsman after failing to pay compensation to a truck driver it unfairly dismissed.

The Federal Circuit and Family Court imposed a $26,292 penalty on Michael Lawler Transport Pty Ltd and a $5258 penalty on Michael Lawler, the company’s part-owner and sole director, after it refused to comply with a Fair Work Commission order to compensate its former employee Harish Kumar.

Kumar was employed by the transport company from July 2022. He was let go without explanation in November 2023.

According to documents filed to the Fair Work Commission last year, the disagreement began when Lawler asked Kumar to wash a company truck.

Kumar said he had performed a “normal wash” on the truck, but

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