$2m retrieved in lost wages

Submitted 8/12/2008

Lauren Novak - Adelaide Advertiser

A surge in breaches of the Workplace Relations Act by South Australian employers led to recovery of $2 million in unpaid wages for workers last financial year.

The federal Workplace Ombudsman's annual report shows breaches in SA increased almost five-fold from 235 in 2006-07 to 1138 last financial year.

Claims by employees rose from 1045 to 1509 over the same period.

The worst offending workplaces or industries were, in order, cafes and restaurants, security, road freight transport, hotels and bars and cleaning.

The Ombudsman returned $2 million in unpaid wages and entitlements, such as holiday leave - compared with $737,000 the previous year.

The Workplace Ombudsman's office state director Steve Ronson attributed the rise to increased public awareness.

"More people are becoming aware of who we are (and) what we're doing and are more aware of their rights" he said.

The office now conducts one compliance audit for every five claims it investigates.

Business SA chief executive Peter Vaughan said most employers did the right thing.

But he reminded all bosses they "have got to, must do and are required to" pay employees properly.

"In most cases it will be underpayment not done for underhanded reasons but just through ignorance," he said.

Mr Vaughan predicted a similarly high number of breaches and complaints next year as a result of confusion over the introduction of the Rudd Government's new workplace laws.

Nationally, the Workplace Ombudsman recovered more than $36.6 million for almost 28,000 Australian workers, up from $13.4 million from the previous year.

The ombudsman initiated legal action in a record 67 matters in 2007-08 - up 26 per cent - and 53 have been finalised.

Penalties awarded by courts against employers presecuted by the Workplace Ombudsman in 2007-08, totalled $1.6 million - up more than 400 per cent.