The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) has revealed that it has recently recovered $18,952 after a probe into 17 commercial contract cleaning businesses in Adelaide.
Just under $20,000 in wages has been recovered for 29 cleaners around Adelaide.
Ten of those companies which were investigated after anonymous tip-offs, customer enquiries or requests for help from the FWO were found to have breached workplace laws.
During the investigation, inspectors conducted interviews with the cleaners, employers and managers, reviewed records, observed work practices and noted staff numbers.
The companies investigated had provided cleaning to shopping centres, among other sites.
Seven of the 10 companies which breached workplace laws had underpaid employees, two had underpaid employees and failed to meet pay slip and record-keeping requirements and one other had breached the pay slip and record-keeping laws.
In a statement published by the FWO said the most common breaches were failures to pay penalty rates, underpayment of minimum hourly rates and failure to keep employee records.
Eight compliance notices were issued, requiring those employers to rectify underpayments, which recovered $18,662.
The largest back payment from one business was $7,852 for nine employees.
Four of the infringement notices were also issued for pay slip and record-keeping breaches. These resulted in a total of $888 in fines.
Ombudsman Sandra Parker said the contract cleaning industry was a new compliance priority for the agency.
“Contract cleaning is part of an industry that employs a lot of migrant workers, who we know are at higher risk of exploitation. The cleaning sector has a significant history of non-compliance with workplace laws. The Fair Work Ombudsman expects all cleaning employers and supply chain businesses to comply with workplace laws,” says Ombudsman Sandra Parker.
As part of its focus, the FWO has launched a “targeted contract cleaning webpage with resources for employees, employers and independent contractors, including information on pay, entitlements, record-keeping and resolving workplace problems”.
There, businesses can apply for certification of their building’s cleaning supply chain through an industry-led framework.
Australian Workers Are Being Encouraged To Check If Their Super Is Underperforming
Australians are being urged to do one thing that has the potential to boost their super by tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Australians are being encouraged to check if their super accounts are performing this year, after a comparison tool launched five months ago reached the milestone of one million hits online.
Superannuation Minister Jane Hume said the online resource, which was launched in July, held super funds to account and named and shamed underperformers.
“Australians work hard to earn their wages, and of course superannuation is deferred wages. We will always put Australians first, not fund managers,” said Superannuation Minister Jane Hume.
Thirteen MySuper products failed the Government’s new bright line performance test covering a million-member accounts.
The MySuper comparison tool enables Australians to compare their super fund against other default products on an apples to apples basis.
“The fees you pay today can mean tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars difference in retirement. As Einstein observed, compound interest is one of the most powerful forces in the universe- a small change in your super today can have very lucrative pay-offs many years down the line,” said Superannuation Minister Jane Hume.
The online tool illustrates that for a person aged 30 who has $70,000 worth of super there are nine funds which “underperform” based on information supplied by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.
One of the super funds was Maritime Super, a fund that was charging $1010 a year, according to the website, while giving a person a seven-year net return of 7.13 percent.
Energy Industries Superannuation Scheme was also classified as underperforming, charging $623 with a net return of just 5.96 percent.
Meanwhile, on the other hand, “performing” account UniSuper charged an annual fee of $418 and had a net return of 9.17 percent over seven years.
Australian Super charged $586 but had a net return of 9.41 percent.