Record amount of money recovered in unpaid wages

Billions of dollars were recovered for Aussie workers in unpaid wages, the largest sum in national history.

The Fair Work Ombudsman announced the recovery of $509 million in unpaid wages for over 250,000 workers in 2022–23.

“The recovery of $509 million in the last financial year is a great result for the workers who have been back paid their withheld wages, and also for the businesses that pay correctly and are no longer at a disadvantage as a result,” said acting Fair Work Ombudsman Kristen Hannah.

“The latest recoveries mean the Fair Work Ombudsman has seen more than $1 billion recovered for workers across Australia in the last two years alone.”

This year’s recovery is reportedly the largest figure ever for Australia.

“These results occur after the consistent work that our agency has done to create an environment that expects large corporates to prioritise compliance and to report to us when they have got it wrong,” Ms Hannah said.

“The Fair Work Ombudsman is continuing to use all the powers available to us to enforce compliance, especially where breaches impact vulnerable workers.”

It’s reported that $317 million of the $509 million total recovery were from large corporate and university employees. The past year has seen the Fair Work Ombudsman accept enforceable undertakings related to back payments of millions of dollars each from companies, including David Jones, Politix, Crown Melbourne and Perth, and Suncorp, as well as three separate universities.

Some companies were also hit with litigations, including Super Retail Group and four of its subsidiaries. Meanwhile, two franchisors, 85 Degrees Coffee and Bakers Delight, Holdings are allegedly liable for breach of workplace law.

These charges should serve as a warning and promote the need for workplace education on wage responsibilities.

Ms Hannah commented: “As a regulator, we recognise that prevention is better than cure, so we put a huge amount of effort into our education and advice function to help ensure employers and workers have the latest accurate information they need to be compliant.”

She added: “We highlight that from today, all national system employees can access 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave. That entitlement takes effect for small business today, after commencing for other employers in February. We have a range of updated information to help.”

The Fair Work Ombudsman provides online information and resources to help businesses keep up with payment responsibilities, including paid family and domestic violence leave changes.