Optus fined for underpayment of long-service leave

Australia’s second-largest telco will have to provide an additional $218,000 worth of long-service leave to approximately 560 current Victorian employees who were not allocated their full entitlement, and it has been fined for the underpayments.

Last Friday (14 June), Optus pleaded guilty in the Melbourne Magistrates Court to underpaying more than $6,000 in outstanding long-service leave entitlements to five former employees on the day their employment ended, despite them completing at least seven years of service.

The charges, Victoria’s Wage Inspectorate said in a statement, “represent a sample” of the underpayments uncovered during its investigation into the telco giant.

Individual underpayments – which took place between 31 March 2020 and 29 January 2021 – ranged from $652 to $1,891, the statement detailed, with some employees not receiving the money they were owed until 10 months after their employment ended.

An investigation by the Wage Inspectorate determined that the telco’s enterprise agreement didn’t comply with the state’s Long Service Leave Act 2018.

“The issue arose because of a clause in Optus’s enterprise agreement that said that any period of unpaid leave over five days does not count towards continuous service. This is inconsistent with Victoria’s laws, which state that any amount of unpaid leave less than 52 weeks does amount to continuous service,” the Wage Inspectorate said.

As a result, Optus has had to provide an additional $218,000 worth of long-service leave to approximately 560 current Victorian employees who hadn’t been allocated their full entitlement and back pay nine former employees who didn’t receive the correct long-service leave entitlement when their employment ended.

Moreover, the Wage Inspectorate charged Optus for failing to pay five of those former employees their full long-service leave entitlement on the day their employment ended.

The magistrate, Brett Sonnet, did not record a conviction due to the telco’s early guilty plea and fined it $13,000. Optus was also ordered to pay $15,000 in costs.

Speaking about the outcome, Wage Inspectorate Victoria commissioner Robert Hortle said: “The Wage Inspectorate was set up to ensure Victorians received their hard-earned entitlements, and today’s outcome shows that’s exactly what we’re doing. Around 570 current and former Optus employees will get their rightful long-service leave entitlement because of our action.”

“Optus’s enterprise agreement was in direct conflict with the law, leading to former staff being out of pocket and current staff being unaware of their full leave entitlement and depriving them of the opportunity to travel, spend time with family or recharge their batteries.”

“It’s disappointing that Optus, a nationally recognised brand with significant resources, had underpaid former staff and under-allocated leave to current employees. Victorians expect these large businesses to get this stuff right.”

“For big business, good governance starts in the boardroom. Complying with Victoria’s workplace laws should be front of mind for the most senior decision-makers.”