Young workers ‘being cheated’
* Ben Schneiders
* January 19, 2009
Source: The AGE

YOUNG workers are being exploited in large numbers in the retail and hospitality sectors, a blitz by the workplace watchdog has revealed.

The Workplace Ombudsman recently audited 400 employers nationwide and found 41 per cent, or 165 employers, had underpaid a total of about 1500 staff aged between 15 and 24.

Ombudsman Nicholas Wilson said the blitz by inspectors focused on industries that typically employed young people, with nearly nine out of every 10 of the breaches in either retail or accommodation and food services.

Most of the breaches were due to the underpayment of wages and penalty rates and Mr Wilson said the ombudsman had clawed back a total of $540,300 for the affected young workers.

That is an average of $360 for each employee.The Age spoke to one young worker who had been underpaid in her first job, from which she has since resigned.

Lauren (not her real name) worked in a shop for two years in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs and was paid a flat rate of $7.50 an hour and not properly paid penalties, she said. “I was 14, I thought that was correct,” she said.

Along with her sister, who had worked at the same shop, she was backpaid thousands of dollars after a recent court case.

She said she was able to prove she was underpaid because she kept a diary that provided evidence of when she worked. Otherwise, she said, it would have been hard to prove.

Lauren said at first she had been unaware what she should have been paid but later raised the issue a few times with her boss, who “didn’t really say anything” in response.

Unable to resolve the underpayment problem, her family took their case to the ombudsman, triggering an investigation.

Mr Wilson said the ombudsman’s audit — which resulted in $204,487 being paid back to Victorian workers — confirmed his view that young workers were particularly vulnerable to exploitation.

Before Christmas the ombudsman launched an education campaign on the issue by distributing flyers to young people and employers.

http://wo.gov.au