Fair Work Investigation Spree – does it affect you?

Fair Work surprise inspections!

The Fair Work has conducted surprise inspections of 82 businesses in Melbourne. 86% of the surprise inspections were found to have breached workplace laws. Of the 71 businesses found to be in breach, 69 had underpaid their workers and 24 had failed to meet record-keeping requirements.

The most common breaches found were underpaying penalty rates (52 businesses), followed by failing to pay minimum wages including casual loading (51 businesses) and record-keeping issues (17 businesses).

  • The largest recovery from one business was $83,272 for 170 employees in St Kilda;
  • The FWO recovered $684,543.00 of underpaid wages;
  • 32 Infringement Notices issued (for pay slip and record-keeping breaches) resulting in $54,721 in fines paid.

If your business has not done so recently, we strongly encourage taking a moment to review your employment processes and contracts to ensure that you are meeting all of your requirements.

If you need help updating your employment contracts or workplace policies (or have any other employment law questions), please contact Aspen ([email protected]) or Matthew ([email protected]) or call our office on (07) 5479 2457.

Disclaimer: please note that this article is provided for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Australian law is complex and ever changing, and you should always obtain advice specific to your circumstances from a qualified legal practitioner.  If you require advice, please contact us on (07) 5479 2457 or at [email protected] to see how we can help.