{"id":223617,"date":"2018-11-22T19:01:00","date_gmt":"2018-11-22T09:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=223617"},"modified":"2020-07-01T10:41:00","modified_gmt":"2020-07-01T00:41:00","slug":"harvest-trail-exploitation-rife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2018\/11\/22\/harvest-trail-exploitation-rife\/","title":{"rendered":"$1m In Farm Wages Recovered"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Fair Work Ombudsman
Sandra Parker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

November 22, 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n

An investigation targeting Australia\u2019s Harvest Trail has recovered more than $1 million in unpaid wages for more than 2500 farm workers.<\/p>\n

The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) took court action against eight employers for serious alleged breaches of the Fair Work Act, with four actions involving labour hire contractors.<\/p>\n

Six matters have now been finalised resulting in more than $500,000 in penalties, and two remain before court.<\/p>\n

Inspectors also issued 150 formal cautions to employers, 132 infringement notices and 13 compliance notices for breaches of workplace laws, and entered into seven\u00a0enforceable undertakings.<\/p>\n

Inspectors investigated 638 businesses connected with the harvesting of various crops including citrus, grapes, strawberries, cherries, mushrooms, apples and tomatoes. <\/strong><\/p>\n

They found more than half of these had breached workplace laws.<\/p>\n

Offences included deliberate and significant underpayments of base pay rates, falsification of records, deliberate withholding of payslips, non-payments and unauthorised deductions.<\/p>\n

Some businesses were randomly selected, while others were targeted based on tip-offs.<\/p>\n

Several employers with ongoing compliance issues were investigated multiple times.<\/p>\n

The inquiry found almost 70 per cent of Harvest Trail businesses employed visa holders.<\/p>\n

More than a third of employers were paying piece rates or a combination of piece and hourly rates, which are acceptable under horticultural awards.<\/p>\n

However, more than 100 of those employers were not engaging pieceworkers correctly, either by having no written piecework agreement or having an invalid piecework agreement.<\/p>\n

Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said the inquiry exposed widespread non-compliance along the Harvest Trail.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe FWO visited hundreds of horticulture businesses and found over half did not comply with workplace laws,” Ms Parker said.<\/p>\n

“Our inquiry highlighted unacceptable practices of underpaying workers in one of Australia\u2019s largest rural industries.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowers rely heavily on migrant workers to pick, pack and process crops, and these workers can be particularly vulnerable.<\/p>\n

“Migrant workers may not seek help because of language and cultural barriers, concerns about visa status, or because they are unaware of their workplace rights.”<\/p>\n

Ms Parker said all workers in Australia have the same rights and protections at work, regardless of citizenship or visa status. <\/strong><\/p>\n

“During this inquiry, we assisted hundreds of migrant workers to recover their pay, and any workers with concerns should contact us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue to monitor Harvest Trail employers and prioritise any requests for assistance from workers.<\/p>\n

“Growers and labour hire operators can expect to face further action if they do not comply with Australia\u2019s workplace laws.”<\/p>\n

Employers and employees can seek assistance at www.fairwork.gov.au<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0or contact the Fair Work Infoline on 13-13-94.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An investigation targeting Australia\u2019s Harvest Trail has recovered more than $1 million in unpaid wages for more than 2500 farm workers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":262486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,36],"tags":[1134],"yoast_head":"\n$1m In Farm Wages Recovered - southburnett.com.au<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An investigation targeting Australia\u2019s Harvest Trail has recovered more than $1 million in unpaid wages for more than 2500 farm workers.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2018\/11\/22\/harvest-trail-exploitation-rife\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"$1m In Farm Wages Recovered - 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