Eleven Sunshine Coast truck drivers will share a $34,000 windfall after the Workplace Ombudsman uncovered underpayments of overtime and penalty rates.
Eleven Sunshine Coast truck drivers will share a $34,000 windfall after the Workplace Ombudsman uncovered underpayments of overtime and penalty rates.
Workplace Ombudsman Nicholas Wilson said the underpayments, by a company he refused to name, justified his organisation's targeting of the trucking industry.
He said investigations found the small company had underpaid 11 of its 14 drivers a total of $34,458.
"We have found that the company was not paying correct penalty rates or overtime," Mr Wilson said.
"We also discovered it had wrongly deducted mobile phone charges, which in some weeks, left drivers with little or no pay at all."
Mr Wilson said road transport was at "high risk" of breaching the Workplace Relations Act, given his office had received more than 2,500 claims about it over the past two years.
Workplace Ombudsman inspectors began auditing the company's books in February following a confidential complaint.
Mr Wilson said the company had cooperated fully and was voluntarily reimbursing employees amounts from $241 to $9,454.
The underpayments date back to March, 2006.
Mr Wilson said while legal action would not be taken against the company over its mistakes, he warned there would be no excuse for it failing to comply with workplace laws in future.
Letters have been sent to 9,500 businesses around the country advising that up to 700 would be randomly selected for audit.
In Queensland, inspectors will focus on checking short distance freight companies to ensure they are complying with minimum rates, minimum shifts, split shift provisions and allowances, pay slips and time sheets.
A spokesman for the Workplace Ombudsman said employers were only named if a matter went to court.
Transport Workers Union state secretary Hughie Williams said companies caught underpaying workers should be named regardless.
"If they're prepared to commit an offence by underpaying their workers, prospective workers should know who they are," he said.
"They could have been prosecuted, so they should be named."
aap 7 Jul 2008
Always this veil of secrecy, when it comes to corporations. When an individual 'steals' a $0.50 item from a department store, a criminal conviction IS recorded against their name.
11 workers $34,000 total, therefore approx $3,100 per worker average.
Telstra is responsible for a fraud that is worth approx $6.5 million per annum.
Telstra defrauded its workers approx $6,600 each on average.
Lets see if the Workplace Ombudsman will give a similar victory to those workers.
The answer will be NO.
Stay tuned here for further results.
Update : 13 AUG 2008 - Letter has been sent to the Workplace Ombudsman.
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