Gold Coast restaurants and small retailers would be the most likely local offenders in a Fair Work Ombudsman national audit of employers who underpay their staff, according to employment law expert Brett Wilson.
He was not surprised by a national Fair Work audit which found about a quarter of retailers were underpaying staff or in technical breach of the award
While the ombudsman nationally found that pharmaceutical retailers were the worst offenders, followed by electrical and electronic retailers, Mr Wilson said the Gold Coast was different.
Mr Wilson, an employment law expert with Robina law firm Aitken Wilson Lawyers, said the food industry was a major player in Gold Coast employment as were the huge number of small, ‘boutique’ retailers.
“The big chains and department stores are pretty careful about following awards but it’s the small players where sometimes the boss tries to cut costs or make some savings by underpaying staff,” he said.
The FWO audit reportedly found almost 500 employers of the 1866 retailers in the investigation were in breach, with about half of those guilty of underpaying workers. The remainder were found to be in technical breach of awards while another 295 employers were still being investigated.
Mr Wilson said smaller retailers who did not have access to staff HR specialists should seek professional help to steer them through changes to the Fair Work legislation.
“Overall the picture is not bad. Around three quarters of employers are in line with staff pay entitlements but there will always be those who are simply ignorant of their obligations, or a few bosses wanting to rip off their workers,” he said.
The Fair Work Ombudsman reported the investigation found that Queensland employees were doing unpaid work before or after their rostered shift and employers were not aware of their obligations.
Mr Wilson said employees who feared they were being ripped off by their employers had rights to complain and claim their rightful payments.
“Sometimes the employers just don’t realise they are in breach of their pay obligations, other times it’s deliberate. Requiring staff to be at work a specific time before their official starting hour, but not paying them for this, multiplied by the weeks and months of a year can amount to quite a sum of unpaid time.
“The Fair Work Ombudsman acknowledges retailers in each state have had to cope with significant change in adjusting to the national Modern Retail Award under the Fair Work system.
“The Gold Coast is probably no better or worse than any city for complaints but, due to the nature of our city restaurants, are definitely the most likely front runners in underpayment issues,” Mr Wilson said.
