Popular Taiwanese restaurant chain Din Tai Fung and two of its former managers in Australia have been fined more than A$4 million (S$3.52 million) for underpaying 17 employees, Australian media reported.

The chain, known for its signature xiao long bao – steamed soup dumpling – was found to have underpaid workers at its Sydney and Melbourne restaurants from 2014 to 2018, 1News reported.

On April 9, Australia’s Federal Court fined the chain A$3.9 million. Former general manager Hannah Handoko and human resources manager Sinthiana Parmenas of Sydney’s World Square branch were fined about A$90,000 and A$105,000 respectively.

The affected employees were underpaid amounts from A$2,300 to over A$50,000. Almost all of them were migrants under 30 years old on temporary visas, according to The Australian Financial Review.

Justice Anna Katzmann said the chain’s senior management had a “deceitful and unscrupulous” scheme of underpaying staff and later covering it up through false payslips and timesheets.

“All of these employees are fairly characterised as vulnerable... (It was) a calculated scheme to rob employees of their hard-earned wages and deceive the authorities,” she added.

According to 1News, the chain had intentionally hired visa holders over Australian citizens to prevent the authorities from detecting its business practices.

Din Tai Fung declared 338 of its 382 workers in Australia as “foreign employees” in 2017, Sky News reported.

According to 1News, the affected workers may not be able to recoup their lost earnings as the chain went into administration in Australia in 2021 after the Federal Court proceedings began.

The Din Tai Fung fine is the second-highest issued by Australia’s Fair Work Ombudsman, with the highest fine of A$10.34 million issued to Commonwealth Bank of Australia in 2024 for knowingly underpaying thousands of staff by more than A$16 million.