Avoid being accused of wage theft - safeguard your business today!

Staggering amount of money recovered for workers
According to their annual report (2019–20), the Fair Work Ombudsman has recovered a staggering
$123 million for workers arising from requests for assistance involving workplace disputes and FWO investigations, including large corporate companies self-reporting underpayments.
These infringements are occurring in companies ranging from large corporate organisations like Woolworths and IBM to small operators such as electricians, hair salons, restaurants, accounting, and medical firms.

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Are you confident that you are paying your employees correctly? 
If large corporations are being caught out doing the wrong thing, how confident are you that you have the correct systems and processes in place to ensure Fair Work and Modern Award compliance? Safeguard your business today against the risk of penalties, the cost of back pay and to protect your brand reputation.  

10 common mistakes
Here are just a few examples of where you can go wrong. Often these mistakes are not intentional but are due to a lack of expertise in the area.

1. Misinterpretation of award entitlements and conditions
2. Incorrect payroll system set up
3. Failure to compensate employees for higher duties, qualifications or increase in age (junior staff)
4. Insufficient record keeping
5. Payslips that are not compliant
6. Failure to check that employees who are being paid an annual salary are better off compared to award entitlements
7. Failure to pay the correct allowances
8. Not paying casual staff the correct hourly rate, loadings and penalty rates
9. Failure to pay the correct entitlements on termination
10. Not applying the annual wage increases

​What is a Fair Work audit?
The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) conducts compliance campaigns to educate employers and check compliance. In these instances, the FWO randomly selects businesses in a particular industry or region and checks a sample of their records.
If you are audited and your business is not complying with workplace obligations, the FWO will provide information and resources to help you fix the issues. You will then be required to correct the issues (e.g. investigating and back paying any underpayments) and provide evidence that the problem is resolved. ​According to the FWO, the purpose of an audit is to educate and assist, however, they also state that they will take appropriate enforcement action if you intentionally breach your obligations or fail to make the appropriate efforts to ensure ongoing compliance.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels

What is a Fair Work investigation?
In some instances, the FWO will conduct an investigation if it has cause to do so e.g. an employee requests assistance regarding a workplace dispute. During an investigation, inspectors may visit your workplace, interview people, and examine your records or documents. At the end of the investigation the FWO will determine if there have been breaches of workplace laws and will present its findings and advise of any actions that are required.

What are the consequences of noncompliance to your company brand?
Your brand reputation is important to ensure customer retention and loyalty and ultimately, business success. Having a strong employer brand attracts good calibre candidates to your organisation and supports employee engagement and loyalty.

Act now before it is too late
Do a self-audit now before any problems escalate.
If you do not have the time or expertise to conduct a self-audit, please contact us today to support you in this process. We can conduct an HR health check, make recommendations, and help you fix any issues.
Contact us today at [email protected] or submit an enquiry on our website contact page.