The Fair Work Ombudsman reported that it recovered a total of $1,212,727 in unpaid wages for 1351 workers in the fast food, restaurant, café and retail sectors on the back of of targeted investigations between December 2019 and March 2020 into popular food precincts in Melbourne and Brisbane.
Inspectors looked into 49 businesses in Melbourne and 44 in Brisbane and found 84 per cent of Melbourne’s and 88 per cent of Brisbane’s were guilty of workplace law breaches.
As a result of FWO’s actions, $194,365 in underpayments were recovered for 186 Melbourne workers and $309,073 for 369 Brisbane workers. Total underpayments per business ranged from $30 to $59,680 in Melbourne and $377 to $65,215 in Brisbane.
The FWO’s national food and retail investigations also looked into another 171 businesses and found a 71 per cent non-compliance rate. Inspectors eventually recovered $709,289 for 796 workers, who mostly worked as chefs, cooks, waiters, and retail assistants.
Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said the low rates of compliance were unacceptable.
“While we know some of our priority sectors, including many fast food, restaurant and café businesses, have been seriously impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and are under considerable financial strain, we will continue to enforce workplace laws in a proportionate way,” Parker said.
“We will focus on ensuring that any underpayments of workers are back-paid promptly, and where serious non-compliance is found, we will take enforcement action,” Parker added. “Competitive dining strips commonly rely on workers who are young, students or visa holders. We will continue to protect such vulnerable employees by holding employers to account.”
The FWO issued one contravention letter, 19 formal cautions, 51 infringement notices (with total penalties of $101,220), and 42 compliance notices. One company and its director is set to face court.
In addition, in response to breaches found in the national food and retail investigations, the FWO issued 11 contravention letters, 10 formal cautions, 16 infringement notices (with total penalties of $31,290), and 85 compliance notices.
The most common contraventions across the investigations were failures to correctly pay penalty rates, followed by underpayments of the minimum hourly wage.
Several businesses remain under investigation and may face legal proceedings. Other non-compliant businesses were advised that future breaches will likely lead to enforcement action.
