$58,000 Recovered for Underpaid Melbourne Food Staff

The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) has successfully recovered over $58,000 for 121 employees in Melbourne’s south-east food outlets following a series of unannounced inspections.

The underpayments were discovered during investigations of 32 food businesses, primarily “cheap eats” venues located in Bentleigh, Bentleigh East, Carnegie, Glen Huntly, Caulfield, Caulfield East, Elsternwick, and Clayton. These businesses were targeted based on intelligence gathered by the FWO from various sources, including anonymous reports.

The investigation revealed that 26 of the businesses (81 percent) had breached workplace laws. The most common violations included underpaying minimum wages for ordinary hours (19 businesses), underpaying penalty rates (16 businesses), and failing to keep accurate time records (eight businesses).

“The high rate of breaches of workplace laws in south-east Melbourne’s fast food, restaurants, and cafés sector is disappointing and consistent with our findings in the sector nationwide,” said Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth. “Employers must follow all wage laws, including paying minimum wages, which have recently increased. Those doing the wrong thing are being found out and held to account.”

Booth emphasized the importance of employers utilizing the FWO’s free online tools and resources to ensure compliance with wage laws. She also encouraged workers with concerns about wages and entitlements to reach out to the FWO, even anonymously if preferred.

Improving compliance in the fast food, restaurants, and cafés sector remains a priority for the FWO, along with aged care services, agriculture, building and construction, disability support services, large corporations, and universities. “We are targeting these sectors as they are at significant risk of non-compliance with workplace laws or have a history of systemic underpayments, or both,” Booth said. “We are committed to working with these sectors to promote and ensure compliance.”

The highest recovery from a single business amounted to $13,071 for four casual fast food workers who had been paid flat rates below the award minimum for all hours worked. Overall, the FWO issued 22 Compliance Notices, recovering nearly all of the $58,391 for the 121 employees, with approximately $200 recovered without enforcement tools. Employers who failed to meet their payslip and record-keeping obligations were fined $31,461 through 15 Infringement Notices.

More than $1.2 million has been recovered for workers in Melbourne’s fast food, restaurants, and cafés sector as a result of investigations under the FWO’s Food Precincts Program. This program has included surprise inspections in various Melbourne locations, including Degraves Street and Hardware Lane, inner south and inner west, Victoria Street in Richmond, and Swanston Street and inner north.