​Cassi Kenyon, 22, of Sharpe Avenue, pleaded guilty in the Warrnambool Magistrates Court to six counts of obtaining property by deception.

She was not convicted, fined and ordered to pay back the money.

Police said she had worked at the Hao Kai Chinese restaurant for three years ​and started putting EFT-POS refunds into her bank account during July.

On July 27 she put three refunds totalling $1000 into her account within minutes.​

​When interviewed by police she admitted her offending.

Magistrate Peter Mellas said the case involved a significant breach of trust and employers had a right to expect honesty from employees. 

He said Kenyon was young, had no prior court appearances and the fraudulent transactions were always going to be uncovered.

The magistrate said the fine could be converted to community work for the now unemployed Kenyon.

Defence counsel Jack Rabl said his client had undergone counselling and was now abstaining from gambling.

He said she had self-excluded from gaming venues​ across Warrnambool and the offending was out of character.

"She found herself lost and the risk of re-offending is low if she can control her gambling issues," he said, explaining Kenyon’s Mother died of a heart attack when Kenyon was 16-years-old.

Mr Rabl said a Fair Worplace investigation was being conducted into whether Kenyon had previously been underpaid.