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Immigration Daily News Hundreds of take-away businesses investigated and ordered to backpay workers over half-million dollars.
Hundreds of take-away businesses investigated and ordered to backpay workers over half-million dollars.
The Fair Work Ombudsman has targeted take-away food businesses across Australia and ordered a total of 565 employers to supply time and wages records for assessment.
As a result of the investigations a total of 223 businesses were found to have short-changed 929 employees a total of $582,410, Acting Fair Work Ombudsman Michael Campbell announced earlier this week.
The investigations found that two out of three businesses were not fully compliant with all payslip and record-keeping obligations and close to half of them were not paying their employees correctly.
Mr Campbell says the results highlight the need for behavioural change and signalled that the hospitality sector would remain a “priority” industry earmarked for ongoing education and support.
The hospitality sector was targeted for attention over three years from 2012-15 in response to more than 4500 requests for assistance from employees in 2010-11, a high volume of calls to the Fair Work Infoline and a number of litigations against hospitality businesses for breaches of workplace laws.
The Fair Work Ombudsman’s 2014-15 annual report reveals that hospitality continues to generate high numbers of calls to the Fair Work Infoline and accommodation and food services accounts for the highest number of requests for assistance from employees.
Mr Campbell says the most common wage error identified was the underpayment of minimum hourly rates.
“Inspectors found some employers providing flat rates of pay for all hours worked, with many advising they had adopted this practice to simplify their payroll processes,” he said. “In nearly one-third of cases, the hourly rate paid was not enough to cover hours attracting penalty rates and loadings, resulting in additional errors.” Acting Fair Work Ombudsman Michael Campbell
A number of businesses were also inadvertently paying their staff under the Restaurant Industry Award instead of the Fast Food Industry Award because the business provided both take-away and dine-in services.
The report noted that workers at take-away food businesses are largely young workers or people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds who needed to be protected. The Ombudsman says it aims to continue monitoring the sector closely.
Immigration blog
This practice is epidemic in all cities in Australia. It's modern day slavery of people desperate for work. Resourcing the enforcement agencies is the issue. Iif a business owner employs people for $10 an hour or $50 per shift, they are knowingly breaking the law. Giving them a 5 or 10k fine means nothing if they have made hundreds of thousands due to unlawful employment practices. Get real and confiscate their houses, cars and investment properties as proceeds of crime, it will reduce the practice.