The Fair Work Ombudsman has called for leadership from the take-away food industry to dramatically improve its compliance with workplace laws.
Take-away workers in food outlets across Australia have been underpaid hundreds of thousands of dollars, spot checks by the Fair Work Ombudsman have revealed.
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 today.
One business owed its employees more than $35,000.
The underpayments to take-away workers were identified during the third and final wave of the Fair Work Ombudsman’s three-year National Hospitality Industry Campaign.
A total of 565 take-away food businesses were asked to supply time and wages records for assessment.
Just over half – 53% – were paying their employees correctly, with just 33% found to be fully compliant with all payslip and record keeping obligations.
Releasing the findings today, Mr Campbell called for leadership from the take-away food industry to dramatically improve its compliance with workplace laws.
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.
He says encouraging compliance is not a job for the Fair Work Ombudsman alone, and called on industry leaders to help with the heavy lifting.
‘The Fair Work Ombudsman is striving to build a culture of compliance where businesses understand and comply with their lawful obligations and do not inadvertently or deliberately undercut their competitors by paying black market wage rates,’ he said.
‘Clearly, the take-away food sector, an industry comprised largely of small businesses, is grappling with the complexity of the IR system and few it seems are joining industry bodies to seek professional help and advice.’
‘It is important that major players in the hospitality sector, industry groups and intermediaries such as accountants and lawyers, all play their part to help lift the levels of compliance above what we are seeing now,’ Mr Campbell concluded.
