Wage Theft "Endemic" in Australia

Wage theft in Australia has been described as "endemic" with research from payroll provider, ADP, revealing that 1 in 9 employees report always being underpaid and two thirds of all Australian workers not receiving their full wages. Estimates from 2020 place Australia's levels of wage theft at around $1.3 billion per year with the sectors most at risk including accommodation and food services (~$190 million), construction (~$320 million), healthcare and social assistance (~$220 million) and retail (~$180 million).

In October 2022 the Fair Work Ombudsman recovered more than $530 billion in unpaid wages and entitlements for nearly 400,000 Australian employees for the 2021-2022 period. This 'record sum' was more than 3 times higher than the previous year and more than quadruple for the 2019-2020 year. More than half of these recovered wages came from large corporate employers.

In 2023 the Fair Work Ombudsman has initiated legal action against a Melbourne-based consulting services company and a Queensland civil engineering company. A commercial laundry business has also been fined $90,000 for underpaying 22 employees and Super Retail Group, the parent company of BCF, Rebel and Supercheap Auto, has been accused of underpaying employees more than $1 million.

An investigation initiated in 2021 by the Fair Work Ombudsman into Woolworths revealed a total of more than $570 million in wages unpaid to employees. In 2019 Merivale Group was served a $129 million class action law suit by 14,000 employees, with claims of being underpaid and not paid for overtime hours over a period of 6 years.

Sources & Further Reading

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/lifestyle/smart/salary-data-shows-wage-theft-is-common-with-one-in-nine-australians-always-underpaid/news-story/9f9fc026c5d0d8449806ed8f40f2a694?amp

https://www.pwc.com.au/publications/australia-matters/navigating-australias-industrial-relations.html

https://www.fairwork.gov.au/newsroom/media-releases/2022-media-releases/october-2022/20221020-fwo-annual-report-2021-22-media-release

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/money/planning-and-budgeting/unsavoury-and-difficult-instances-of-wage-theft-reach-record-highs-20230207-p5cil8.html

https://www.fairwork.gov.au/newsroom/media-releases/2021-media-releases/june-2021/20210618-woolworths-litigation-media-release

https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/finance-news/2022/02/23/woolworths-underpayments/

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jun/18/woolworths-accused-of-underpaying-staff-up-to-1m

https://www.friendlyjordies.com/post/merivale-group

https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2023/02/aussie-wage-theft-hits-record-highs/

https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/mwc/pages/592/attachments/original/1638857151/20211118_MWC_Conference_Report_FINAL_UPDATED_Dec6.pdf

https://www.australianunions.org.au/2023/01/14/wage-theft-harms-two-thirds-of-workers-here-is-how-to-check-if-thats-you/

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-30/brt-wage-theft-inquiry-report/100952990