The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) has had a targeted approach to the start of 2018 by issuing a number of penalties to businesses across Australia. Key issues being the underpayment of workers & failure to keep accurate wage & time records.
Fair Work Wage Audits – Recently in the Victorian regions of Warrnambool and Dandenong the Fair Work Ombudsman has recovered over $620,000 for hundreds of workers. This included a sheet metal manufacturer who was discovered to have underpaid 16 non- English-speaking casual workers and a former economics professor who was found to be taking advantage of employees on 417 workers visas by paying as little as $10 per hour. This professor is now facing fines of up to $10,800 on top of having to back pay the employees.
Caltex has also been in the news recently after it was found that 76% of businesses in the Caltex network that were audited by the Fair Work Ombudsman were not compliant with current workplace laws. The Fair Work Ombudsman also found that 26 employees were owed more than $9,000 in back pay after being underpaid.
On the back of these recent busts the Fair Work Ombudsman has announced that they will begin auditing 1000 businesses across Australia to determine if businesses are getting the basics right. As part of this campaign, Inspectors will be checking the time and wage records of randomly selected businesses to ensure they are keeping the right records and are paying the correct hourly rates and penalties to workers. Businesses in the hospitality, retail security and manufacturing sectors are areas of focus for this campaign due to the large number of vulnerable workers such as casuals, migrants and students employed by businesses in these industries.
Changes made by the Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Vulnerable Workers) Act 2017 means that businesses found guilty of serious contraventions of the Fair Work Act now face penalties of up to $630,000 per contravention with the maximum penalty for an individual now being $126,000 per contravention. The Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Vulnerable Workers) Act 2017 also doubled the maximum penalty for failing to keep employee records or issue pay slips to $63,000 for a company and $12,600 for an individual. The penalty for knowingly making or keeping false or misleading employee records was tripled by this Act with individuals now facing fines up to $12,600.
To ensure that your business is compliant with its responsibilities under current workplace legalisation in Australia and you are prepared if the Fair Work Ombudsman comes knocking contact ABILITY GROUP today to discuss your HR needs.
For previous Articles on Fair Work Wage Audits click here.
For further information, please refer to:
Source: FairWork NSW
Title: FairWork Wage Audits
Read/View Time: 5 Minutes