What happens when an employer does not pay an employee correctly in Australia?
In Australia there are laws that can enforce compliance with employees pay rights.
A recent example is the following:
In May 2021, a Fair Work Inspector issued a Compliance Notice to Skyjohn Pty Ltd after forming a belief that a worker was not paid for his unused annual leave at the end of his employment, as required under the Fair Work Act.
The worker had been employed by Skyjohn as a spray painter between March 2020 and March 2021.
In March 2022, the Fair Work Ombudsman alleged that Skyjohn, without reasonable excuse, failed to comply with the Compliance Notice, which required it to calculate and back-pay the worker’s entitlements.
On 31 August 2022, the court ordered Skyjohn Pty Ltd to fully comply with the Compliance Notice by back-paying the worker an outstanding amount of $1,019.
The Court also imposed a $16,650 penalty against Skyjohn Pty Ltd, (operating as Supreme Crash Repairs in Dudley Park), and a further $3,330 penalty against the company’s sole director, Peter Albert Robinson.
Instead of originally paying the worker his $1,019 holiday pay, the total cost to the company ended up as $20,999. ($19,980 in penalties plus the original $1,019)
Full information at: www.fairwork.gov.au