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The ombudsman also doubled the number of matters filed for litigation compared to last year.
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FWO recovers record $500m in unpaid wages
10 August 2022
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The FWO recovered a record $532 million in unpaid wages and entitlements for more than 384,000 workers in 2021-22 financial year.
The ombudsman said that the record number of unpaid wages recovered was three times greater than the previous year and benefitted five times the number of workers.
Deputy fair work ombudsman policy and communication Kristen Hannah said it was a positive result for workers and compliant businesses.
“The Fair Work Ombudsman’s strengthened compliance and enforcement approach has seen another record amount of back paid wages for Australian workers in the last financial year,” said Ms Hannah.
“This is a great result for the workers who have been reunited with their withheld wages, and also for the businesses that pay correctly and are no longer at a disadvantage as a result.”
The FWO also said that more than half, $279 million, of the unpaid wages and entitlements came from large corporate employers.
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“This is a result of the sustained hard work that our agency has done to create an environment that encourages large corporates to prioritise compliance,” said Ms Hannah.
The body said it had about 50 investigations ongoing into large corporations that have self-reported underpayments.
The number of litigations filed also reached record levels, with 137 put before the courts as part of the effort to hold employers who had allegedly breached workplace laws to account, almost double the number from the previous year.
These included actions against Commonwealth Bank, Commsec and Coles Supermarkets that were ongoing.
The Fair Work Ombudsman also continued its work with small businesses and said it had provided over 1200 written pieces of tailored technical advice through its employer advisory service.
The ombudsman also had a record number of visits to its website at 22.6 million.
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