Touchpoint Media company director Laurence Bernard Ward will pay back 23 staff after they were underpaid over a 17-month period.

The Fair Work Ombudsman also penalised the company $264,924, after an investigation sparked by workers' requests for help.

Inspectors found Touchpoint Media had frequently underpaid or failed to pay for duties performed at the company, with the largest underpayment of wages and entitlements being $48,217.

Some journalists were in their early 20s and recruited straight out of university, and were based in Brisbane or moved to regional areas for work in Charters Towers, Charleville, Goondiwindi, Longreach, Maranoa, Redland and Whitsundays.

Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said the court’s penalty sent a strong message that deliberately underpaying young workers would not be tolerated.

“Requests for assistance from young workers are a high priority for the Fair Work Ombudsman," she said.

“Any employer tempted to underpay young workers for their own benefit should think again because we will do everything within our power to ensure such conduct is met with significant consequences.”

Judge Tony Young said some of these employees were vulnerable and eager to get a job to enter the industry.

“There is some evidence that Touchpoint especially sought out such employees,” he said.

“I am satisfied that there was an element of exploitation involved with young employees that would have been less likely to occur with older or more experienced employees.

“As such, I am satisfied that the experience of employment by Touchpoint and the consequent serious underpayment of many employees, was a bitter and humiliating experience.”

Touchpoint Media and Mr Ward also breached workplace laws during the investigation by knowingly providing false PAYG records to Fair Work Ombudsman inspectors that significantly over-stated the amounts employees had been paid.

Judge Young found the breaches were deliberate.

"The overriding factor is the need to ensure compliance with workplace laws, particularly those in issue here designed to protect employees," he said.

The court ordered Touchpoint Media to pay $220,320 and Mr Ward a further $44,604 for breaching workplace laws.

Judge Young also ordered the company to commission an external audit of its compliance and report the results to the Fair Work Ombudsman.

Touchpoint Media and company director Laurence Bernard Ward were contacted for comment.

Last year when legal action was made, Mr Ward said they were working to resolve the issue.

“...We have every intention of paying everyone we owe… They are not making it easy for us," he said.

Mr Ward said he could not discuss details about how under payments arose but it was a funding issue.