“Australian workers are dealing with the rising cost
of living, housing market pressures, a rental crisis,
and stagnant wage growth.
Unpaid earnings harm people who worked in good faith for their pay packet and - right now - people are having to carefully count every dollar…
More than $847.25 million in wages are estimated to be underpaid each year, affecting 1.38 million workers, or
about 11.5 per cent of the employed Australian workforce”
[McKell Institute, “Unfinished Business: The Ongoing Battle Against Wage Theft”, August 2023]
Smart Company, 22 August 2023:
Wage theft is costing Australian workers $850 million a year, demonstrating an “ingrained culture” of deliberate underpayment and the need for criminalisation at the federal level, according to a damning new report from the McKell Institute.
A fresh analysis of Fair Work Ombudsman audits stretching back to 2009 shows more than a quarter of audited businesses failed to observe the monetary obligations set out by industry awards or enterprise agreements, according to the think tank.
Its calculations show nearly 27,000 businesses were found to have underpaid approximately 1.3 million Australian workers over that time frame.
The real level of wage underpayment is likely higher, McKell Institute CEO Ed Cavanough said, as the analysis did not cover the underpayment of penalty rates, or circumstances where payment under a different award would have been more appropriate.
“This is an extraordinary amount of money being stolen and it’s unacceptable,” Cavanough said in a statement.
Wage underpayment hits businesses big and small
The report arrives against a backdrop of high-profile wage underpayments claims, with Coles, Target, and Bunnings just a few of the major brands to have revealed significant wage underpayments in recent years.
Wage underpayment also stretches deep into the small business sector, with the Fair Work Ombudsman on Tuesday revealing it has levelled nearly $85,000 in penalties against two Victorian businesses accused of underpaying young workers, as a result of its latest investigation.
The Ombudsman recently launched a spate of undercover campaigns targeting small restaurants and food court vendors deemed to offer suspiciously low-cost fare.
The McKell Institute argues laws criminalising wage theft across the board are necessary to discourage employers from deliberately withholding earnings and entitlements.
The report throws its weight behind the federal government’s upcoming industrial relations reform package, which is expected to contain legislation making wage theft a criminal offence across the board….
Read the full article here.
In the NSW Northern Rivers region there are two federal electorates, Page and Richmond.
According to the McKell Institute 29-page analysis of the economic impact of wage theft in Australia, as of June 2022:
In the electorate of Page there were est. 1,366 non-compliant business which between them were believed to have stolen wages from 7,023 employees with a total minimum value of $4,289,664.
In the electorate of Richmond there were est. 1,754 non-compliant businesses which between them were believed to have stolen wages from 9,022 employees with a total minimum value of $5,510,65.
