Ewin Hannan
May 24, 2019
The Australian
More than one in five businesses audited across three states have been busted underpaying workers, with employers forced to backpay over $580,000 to nearly 1000 employees.
Fair Work inspectors found widespread noncompliance with workplace laws after auditing 1385 businesses in regional Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.
Accommodation, hospitality and retail sectors were a focus of the investigation.
Inspectors found 22 per cent of audited business failed to pay their employees correctly, 15 per cent were in breach of non-monetary obligations by not providing proper pay slips or keeping proper employment records, and six per cent failed to pay their employees correctly and meet their non-monetary obligations.
The most common breach of workplace laws was the underpayment of the minimum hourly rate, with inspectors also uncovering underpayment of overtime and penalty rates. The ombudsman recovered an average of about $600 per underpaid employee
Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said the regulator targeted regions based on intelligence.
“Fair Work Inspectors targeted specific regions after employees contacted us for help, many of whom could be vulnerable to workplace exploitation due to their youth or visa status,’’ she said.
“It is unacceptable that almost half of the businesses we visited were simply unaware of their obligations under workplace laws and were not paying the lawful minimum hourly wage.”
In addition to recovering lost wages, inspectors issued 39 cautions, warning employers about the consequences of continued noncompliance, and 27 on-the-spot fines, which involve penalties of $5960 for breaches of pay slip or record-keeping requirements.
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