Two Gippsland businesses have been busted for underpaying staff by the Fair Work Ombudsman.
As a result of the Fair Work investigation, 21 Gippsland workers have been back-paid more than $21,000 in wages and entitlements after their employers were found to have breached workplace laws.
In one matter, six cafe workers in Warragul, including a teenager, were underpaid $8749 after the employer incorrectly classified the employees.
According to the Ombudsman, the employer’s errors led to underpayments of the workers’ ordinary hourly rates as well as their weekend and public holiday penalty rates under the Restaurant Industry Award 2010.
A Leongatha business was also been put on notice after underpaying 13 full-time employees after failing to update pay rates following the annual July increase to modern awards.
Despite underpayments of as little as 47 cents per hour, the failure to apply the updated wage rates led to a total back-pay bill of $6027 under the General Retail Industry Award 2010.
Both businesses repaid their staff in full following intervention by the Ombudsman.
Acting Fair Work Ombudsman Kristen Hannah said in both instances it was the first time the employer had come to the agency’s attention and the errors were quickly rectified.
She said each business was on notice that further mistakes could result in serious enforcement action, including litigation and the potential for hefty penalties.
“Business operators can become overconfident and, as we have seen, this can lead to mistakes like forgetting to pass increases applied in the annual wage review or paying your workers at the incorrect level within the modern award,” Ms Hannah said.
“While these mistakes may be careless rather than malicious, the fact remains that there has never been more freely available information for employers than there is right now so there are no excuses for making these mistakes.
“In these cases we decided the best outcome was to make sure the workers were repaid quickly and lengthy court proceedings were not necessary.”
Employers and employees can visit www.fairwork.gov.au or call the Fair Work Infoline on 13 13 94 for free advice and assistance about their rights and obligations in the workplace.
A free interpreter service is available on 13 14 50.
