The Fair Work Ombudsman has kicked off a National Compliance Monitoring Campaign and will target about 1200 businesses found to have underpaid their workers over the past three years.
Employers who have previously short-changed their staff $500 or more will be audited this year to ensure they have not ignored advice and assistance given to them by Fair Work inspectors in response to their past contraventions, according to a statement from the ombudsman Natalie James.
“We obviously frown on those who refuse to fix problems or continually flout their workplace obligations so they have a competitive advantage over others doing the right thing,” said Ms James.
Maximum penalties for contraventions of workplace laws are $51,000 per breach for a company and $10,200 for an individual. Business sponsors of foreign workers also face the risk of losing their sponsorship rights.
Ms James says the campaign aims to assess the level of behavioural change among employers to assist the Agency understand the drivers of non-compliance and to help inform future pro-active compliance and education activities.
Recently, cleaning contractors came under the spotlight after spot checks resulted in wage recoupments of almost $763,000 for some 1200 workers who were mainly overseas born or on student visas. Latest data indicates there are almost 25,000 businesses operating in the cleaning services industry in Australia employing almost 100,000 workers.
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