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Investigations uncover breaches of workplace laws and payslip requirements after anonymous tip-offs.
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FWO forces Perth security firms to back pay staff over $360,000
06 March 2023
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The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) has recovered $368,666 for 102 underpaid guards and supervisors after investigating security firms around Perth.
Fair Work inspectors found nine security businesses in the area were non-compliant after anonymous tip-offs led it to examine 12 organisations.
Of those, eight had underpaid their workers while three had failed to meet payslip and record-keeping requirements.
One business owed just $55 to a single worker while another was forced to back pay $159,940 to 17 employees.
The FWO said the most common breaches were failures to pay penalty rates for weekend work, shift work, public holidays and other loadings, as well as stalled overtime payments.
The regulator also issued two infringement notices for breaches of payslip laws which resulted in $3,108 in fines.
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The ombudsman said all employees affected were engaged as security guards or supervisors and a total of $368,666 was recovered after the FWO issued compliance notices to the businesses.
Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said the audit showed that the security industry needed to sharpen its focus on employment matters.
“The high rate of non-compliance we found among these security businesses is a concern,” said Ms Parker.
“In particular, employers were not meeting their obligations to pay penalty rates, which the law requires to compensate workers for working often unsociable hours when most of the community are not.”
“We expect all businesses to prioritise meeting their obligations so that workers are paid the right wages and entitlements in full.”
The FWO warned the firms any further non-compliance would result in higher-level enforcement action by the regulator.
The result comes after a week of FWO action in southwest Western Australia, where it conducted surprise inspections at 20 farms around Manjimup and Donnybrook while also raiding 50 eateries in Perth.
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