Commission says it will 'protect workers who are underpaid'
The Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) has recently recovered more than $1 million in worker’s wages for more than 2,300 employees in the past five months.
According to ABCC’s report, the most common breaches were employers using the incorrect award or enterprise agreement, non-payment of allowances, incorrect application of overtime provisions, and non-compliant record-keeping practices.
The recent recoveries include $192,000 back paid to 227 employees of a New South Wales solar contractor after their employer failed to pay entitlements under the modern award; $44,000 back paid to 119 employees of a Queensland post-tensioning company after their employer failed to pay allowances under their enterprise agreement; and $53,830 back paid to 99 labour hire employees in Western Australia after their employer failed to pay entitlements under the applicable modern awards, among others.
“Recovering wages for individual employees as quickly as possible is our primary concern and has immediate benefit for the worker,” ABCC Commissioner Stephen McBurney said in a media release.
“We are committed to discharging our statutory function as regulator of the building and construction industry to protect workers who are underpaid and have payment issues rectified in full and in a timely manner.”
“The ABCC is committed to ensuring employees are paid properly. We will pursue all appropriate legal action when employers deliberately fail to pay their workers what they are rightfully owed,” McBurney added.
Since its establishment in 2016, the ABCC has made more than $4,000,000 total wage recoveries.
