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Compliance levels on the up: Ombudsman

Fair Work Ombudsman says recent campaign shows employers appear to be improving compliance with workplace laws

October 24, 2013

The Fair Work Ombudsman’s campaigns targeting employers over compliance with workplace laws appears to be working, with compliance levels on the rise.

The workplace watchdog has found the majority of companies in Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory that had previously breached record-keeping or pay slip requirements were now meeting their obligations.

In a recent campaign, 73 of the 99 employers checked were compliant, while only 26 businesses were not meeting their full requirements to provide pay slips to workers.

“It is particularly pleasing that we revisited 73 employers that were previously in contravention and found that all of them are now meeting their obligations under workplace law,” the FWO’s Natalie James says.

“It reinforces that our inspectors’ approach of working cooperatively with employers to educate them about their obligations and assist them to put processes in place to ensure ongoing compliance is having a positive impact.”

The Northern Territory had the best compliance rate at 82 per cent, followed by South Australia (79 per cent) and Western Australia (65 per cent).

All businesses checked had previously had a complaint lodged against them or were audited during a Fair Work Ombudsman campaign and had agreed to rectify their breaches.

Two fines of $550 each were issued to businesses in Perth and Mount Barker for multiple pay slip breaches, with one business owner initially denying he had signed an agreement to rectify his contraventions during a previous audit.

James says it is fundamentally important for businesses to get it right when it comes to their record-keeping and pay slip obligations.

“Pay slips are critical. Apart from being a legal requirement that they be provided within 24 hours of payment being made and that they contain key information, it’s the main source for employees to check for themselves that they’ve been paid correctly for all hours worked,” she says.

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