Watchdog puts Domino's ‘on notice’ for workplace breaches
The Fair Work Ombudsman believes Domino's Pizza is still involved with employment law breaches throughout its network.
An almost two-year investigation found most of the stores it audited were breaking the rules, but the watchdog said it could not tell if Domino's was "knowingly involved (as an accessory)" with the breaches carried out by its franchisees. However, it has put the pizza chain "on notice" for failure to comply with the Protecting Vulnerable Workers act.
The ombudsman released its report this week which uncovered workplace breaches at 19 of the 23 stores it fully audited for the month of February 2017. These breaches included underpaying or not paying staff for the hours they worked and not keeping proper records.
“The results of the FWO audit... strongly suggest broader, ongoing systemic issues within the Domino’s network of stores that are likely to be contributing to promoting or enabling non-compliance throughout the network," the report said.
The ombudsman also questioned the validity of Domino's own internal store audits, which claims to have recovered $5.75 million for workers in wages and unpaid superannuation, saying that the "processes may have relied upon franchisee records without employee corroboration".
"The FWO also calls upon Domino’s to publish the findings of its audit activities so that consumers can be confident Domino’s is complying with the law," the report stated.
Sheridan Randall, 7th September 2018
