Why are companies being caught out with back payments?
Some simple errors are catching businesses out and causing significant back payments to staff.
Cosmetics company Lush was reported yesterday (17 November 2020) by the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) for an enforceable undertaking to back-pay their employees more than $4.4 million.
The FWO highlighted the main cause of the problem included – ‘inadequate workplace relations systems and processes, … a lack of training for staff and managers, a manual payroll system, and the absence of a HR department in a rapidly growing business.’
They were not compliant with the provisions of the relevant Awards, not taking into account minimum wage, weekend and overtime rates, superannuation, timesheet and record keeping.
In other recent cases, contracts of employment did not reflect or take into consideration the appropriate Award rates and allowances that may impact common law contracts.
People2Growth, strongly encourages businesses to review their contract and payroll processes to ensure that they are compliant and not leaving themselves open to further investigation. Cleaning up your systems and processes will save time later in researching and reviewing past records. This can also effect morale and take your ‘eye’ off winning new work and meeting client requirements.
Contact us at damienb@people2growth.com.au to discuss your concerns.
