Fair Work Ombudsman will audit 100 Tasmanian businesses as part of a new education and compliance campaign
December 7, 2010
The Fair Work Ombudsman will audit another 100 businesses throughout Tasmania as part of a new education and compliance campaign.
The latest audits are a follow-up to a campaign earlier this year which found almost 40 per cent of employers had record-keeping and payslip breaches.
Fair Work inspectors scrutinised the books of 166 employers and discovered 63 (38 percent) with contraventions.
The audits were conducted in various industries and regions, including Devonport, Launceston, Burnie, Smithton, the North West, the Midlands, the East Coast, the West Coast, Swansea, Hobart, Sorell and Huon.
Fair Work Ombudsman Executive Director Michael Campbell says the findings show a need for further education and compliance monitoring.
“We found a number of employers who were failing to keep sufficient records of matters such as time worked, amounts paid and leave taken and who were not issuing their employees with sufficiently detailed pay slips within one day of payment,” Campbell says.
“Over the next couple of months, inspectors will ask 100 additional employers throughout Tasmania to supply copies of time-and-wages records and pay slips for audit.”
Campbell says inspectors will work with employers to rectify breaches, but has warned penalties might be necessary.
“If we find cases of serious and ongoing breaches, inspectors may issue penalty infringement notices of $330 for individuals or $1650 for companies.
“We treat record-keeping breaches very seriously because they can hamper the ability of inspectors to determine whether workers have been paid correctly.”
Campbell says non-compliance is often due to employers unaware of their obligations.