March 31, 2017
A Fair Work Ombudsman’s report claims one in three Australian businesses audited as part of a national campaign have been failing to pay their apprentices correct wages.
Over the course of the two-year campaign, the FWO checked 2266 apprentices in 822 business audits.
The audits found 264 businesses (32 per cent) had failed to pay their apprentices correctly, and 178 businesses (22 per cent) did not comply with record-keeping and payslip requirements.
The campaign led to the Fair Work Ombudsman recovering $339,433 for 323 workers.
The FWO also issued 54 formal cautions, seven compliance notices and five infringement notices.
Acting Fair Work Ombudsman Michael Campbell said many apprentices came forward during the campaign.
“We received 2241 requests for assistance from apprentices and trainees. Of these requests, 64 per cent came from workers under the age of 24,” Mr Campbell said.
“Apprentices and trainees account for less than 3 per cent of the Australian workforce yet they account for more than 7 per cent of dispute lodgements with the Fair Work Ombudsman. This is disproportionately high.”
Mr Campbell said the Fair Work Ombudsman would continue to promote compliance in the workplace through proactive audits and developing new materials to assist employers and workers to better understand their rights and obligations.
“It is important that both employers and workers understand that everyone must receive their lawful rate of pay and they must be paid for every hour they work,” Mr Campbell said.
“We have also recently released a new smartphone app, Record My Hours, which is aimed at helping young people keep an accurate work diary. The app allows workers to export their data to their employer to help avoid any misunderstandings that may arise over working hours.
“Employers and employees can also refer to the Fair Work Ombudsman’s Pay and Conditions Tool (PACT) to determine pay rates and check entitlements.”
Both PACT and the “Record My Hours” smartphone app are available for free download from the Fair Work Ombudsman website
The “Record My Hours” app is also available in the Apple and Android app stores.
