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.

In several other investigations various restaurants and café operators were made to pay fines and unpaid wages to workers, who were often young foreign students or backpackers. Some of the cases involved prominent businesses like franchisees Baker’s Delight (Bateau Bay and Wyong) and Gloria Jeans Caulfield as well as a 4.5 star hotel, Four Points by Sheraton, although the latter said it relied on sub-contractors for its labour supply.

The Fair Work Ombudsman is now also targeting the finer points of employer responsibilities like to issuing regular pay slips and proper record-keeping. The Fair Work Ombudsman announced last month that it is taking legal action against a Chinese restaurant and a mobile device repair business in Adelaide after they refused to pay $850 and $550 fines for allegedly failing to regularly issue payslips to overseas workers recruited from China and India. The Fair Work Ombudsman audited the two businesses last year as part of its monitoring activity of employers who recruit staff on 457 skilled worker visas.