Of the almost 1,400 employers (1,376) audited throughout every state and territory, 988, or 72 per cent, were compliant with their record-keeping and payslip obligations, while 46 businesses were ordered to back-pay a total of $620,023 to 336 of their workers who had subsequently been short-changed.
A further two businesses received a letter of caution, putting them on notice that future breaches of workplace laws could result in further enforcement action.
Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James noted that the overall finding of the campaign, conducted over two years in 2014 and 2015, reflected a general willingness of businesses to do the right thing by their employees, despite some instances of wrongdoing.
“It is heartening to see a relatively high level of compliance from the businesses audited as part of these campaigns,’’ Ms James said.
“It’s important that we check that workers are being paid correctly, but we also want to be pro-active about ensuring employers understand their obligations.”
Ms James added that if issues are to arise within a business, it is usually the records that can indicate whether employees have indeed received their correct entitlements.
As part of the campaigns, Fair Work inspectors provided information to businesses and directed employers to the educational resources available from the Fair Work Ombudsman website: www.fairwork.gov.au
