Underpayment of wages continues to be prevalent despite the activities of the Fair Work Ombudsman and other authorities to ensure employers are paying staff correctly.
Often the causes of underpayments are simple errors or employers and managers misunderstanding the underlying industrial instrument rather than it being intentional.
Despite this, we continue to see many front-page news stories about wage underpayments by Australian businesses, with particular attention on vulnerable and migrant workers, and other poor practices including sub-standard record keeping. We are also seeing a significant increase in class action underpayment cases.
With the end of the financial year and potential wage increases from the Fair Work Commission quickly approaching, it is now time for employers to consider reviewing the wages paid to its staff to ensure they are meeting their wage obligations, and to avoid potential underpayments and associated penalties, including for wage theft.
On Wednesday 29th of May 2024, Nikola Prestia, Partner and Emily Durack, Associate will be running a FREE webinar updating employers on their minimum wage obligations and wage theft.
This Webinar will cover:
- Typical causes of wage underpayments;
- How to identify wage underpayments;
- The minefield that is annualised salaries;
- How to proactively prevent wage underpayments and legal risks involved;
- Employer and officer obligations, including what to do if you uncover an underpayment and how to rectify the underpayment;
- The current status of wage-theft laws across Australia;
- Recent activities of the Fair Work Ombudsman;
- Recent underpayment case examples (including high profile cases) and the increase in class actions.
