$243,000 back-pay for Adelaide workers

Workers in Adelaide’s CBD and surrounding suburbs have been back-paid a total of $243,400 following recent intervention by the Fair Work Ombudsman.

The largest recovery was $101,400 for 18 workers at a health industry organisation in the City.

Several of the workers lodged complaints with Fair Work Ombudsman when they were underpaid redundancy entitlements.

After a Fair Work inspector contacted the business and explained its obligations, the employees were reimbursed all money owed without the need for further action against the employer.

Other recent recoveries include:

• $28,100 for two CBD administration officers who were underpaid their redundancy entitlements,
• $12,700 for a West Beach retail employee underpaid wages between 2006 and 2012,
• $12,000 for a Plympton Park tradesperson underpaid long service leave entitlements,
• $10,000 for a manager at Wingfield underpaid wages over a five-year period,
• $8600 for a Prospect professional underpaid wages,
• $8000 for a tradesperson at Surrey Downs underpaid entitlements when his employment was terminated,
• $7300 for a South Plympton hospitality worker underpaid annual leave entitlements,
• $7100 for a Mt Torrens manager who was underpaid wages over a three-month period,
• $7000 for a Royston Park operations worker underpaid redundancy entitlements and wages in lieu of notice,
• $7000 for a hospitality worker at Felixstow underpaid wages and entitlements,
• $6800 for a retail worker at Hove underpaid redundancy entitlements,
• $5900 for a hospitality worker at Glenelg underpaid redundancy entitlements,
• $5700 for a Happy Valley tradesperson underpaid redundancy entitlements,
• $5500 for an CBD cleaner underpaid redundancy entitlements,
• $5300 for a shop assistant at Richmond underpaid annual leave entitlements, and
• $5000 for a hospitality worker at Lonsdale underpaid redundancy entitlements.

Fair Work Ombudsman Nicholas Wilson says when Fair Work inspectors identify a problem and contact a business, most employers check their records, realise a problem has occurred, and fix it immediately.

“When we find mistakes, we’re here to assist and give practical advice to employers on how to voluntarily fix them,” Mr Wilson says.

“These businesses have now corrected the errors that led to the underpayments and put processes in place to ensure they will not happen again.”

The Fair Work Ombudsman recovered just over $2.4 million in back-pay for a total of 1875 workers in SA last financial year, up from $1.5 million recouped for 1048 workers the previous year.

Between July 1, 2009 and 30 September, 2012, the Fair Work Ombudsman recovered a total of $100.2 million in back-pay for more than 56,000 unpaid workers in Australia.

Since March, 2006, the Fair Work Ombudsman and its predecessor agencies have recouped a total of $185.5 million for 124,000 workers.

The Fair Work Ombudsman provides a single point of contact for people working or running a business in Australia to get accurate and timely information about their workplace rights and obligations.

Workers or employers seeking support should get in touch with the Fair Work Ombudsman via the website - www.fairwork.gov.au - or call the Fair Work Infoline on 13 13 94.

Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, 14 November 2012