Fair Work investigation forces hospitality venues in Melbourne to pay workers thousands of dollars in unpaid wages
Cafes and restaurants in Melbourne’s south-east have been forced to pay workers thousands of dollars in unpaid wages, following an investigation by the Fair Work Ombudsman.
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00:00In a series of surprise inspections across Melbourne's southeast, the Fair Work Ombudsman
00:06investigation looked at 32 cafes and restaurants and found 80% were in breach of workplace
00:13laws.
00:14The most common breaches were not paying minimum wage properly, failing to pay penalty rates
00:19in the correct way and not keeping time sheets appropriately.
00:24Now the Fair Work Ombudsman has reminded employers that the minimum wage has recently increased
00:29and they do have some information for employers and some tools on their website to help them
00:34keep up to date.
00:36But in this case, 121 employees were underpaid across these eateries and that is to the tune
00:42of $58,000.
00:44That equates to just over $450 per employee.
00:49In this situation, that's on average, but it's part of a much wider problem.
00:54Now the Ombudsman and a booth says this is disappointing, but it's something that they
00:57are seeing across the country and it needs to stop.
01:01As well as having tools on its website to help employers, there are also ways employees
01:06can report if they think they're being underpaid or if they think businesses are doing the
01:11wrong thing.