Tassie hospitality businesses under Fair Work scrutiny

From Hospitality Magazine:

“Tassie hospitality businesses under Fair Work scrutiny

6 February 2012

The Fair Work Ombudsman has earmarked the Tasmanian hospitality industry as its latest target for attention after concerns that employers were not paying staff correctly were raised with the agency's Hobart office.

The agency said it will launch a targeted education and compliance campaign across the state to follow up the reported "potential non-compliance" by hospitality operators.

Under the campaign, Fair Work inspectors will visit hospitality employers to check their compliance with federal workplace laws and provide information about resources available to assist small and medium businesses.

The Fair Work Ombudsman said Fair Work inspectors would be looking particularly at businesses employing young workers which it considered a vulnerable group because of their potential lack of awareness of their workplace rights.

Employers will be asked to open their books to scrutiny to ensure they are maintaining proper records and paying correct rates of pay, including penalty rates. 

A Fair Work Ombudsman spokesman said concerns had been raised with its Hobart office "via a number of avenues".

"In this case it's not appropriate for us to publicly comment further on the discussions we have had with relevant parties," he said.

Last year in Tasmania the FWO's targeted campaigns returned $192,000 to workers found to have been underpaid.

The Fair Work Ombudsman has a special page on its website with information tailored to assist employers in the hospitality sector at www.fairwork.gov.au. Or you can call the Infoline on 13 13 94.

Auditing of hospitality businesses will continue through until June this year, with a report on the findings expected to be published by September.”

Tassie hospitality employers can’t say they weren’t warned!