FWO

Apply the correct modern award rates, penalties, allowances, and overtime — wage theft is now criminal.

Employer must not misrepresent employment as contractor relationship.

FWC can set minimum standards for 'employee-like' workers (gig economy).

Labour hire workers entitled to same minimum pay as direct employees on host site.

Paid FDV leave for all employees: 10 days per year (full-time + part-time + casual).

New casual employment definition + employee choice pathway from 26 August 2024.

All full-time employees accrue 10 days paid personal/carer's leave per year of service.

Employees may refuse out-of-hours contact unless unreasonable from 26 August 2024.

Companies must retain financial + business records for 7 years.

Most modern awards require 17.5% loading on annual leave taken or paid out on termination.

From 26 Aug 2024, eligible casual employees can notify their employer to convert to permanent employment.

Redundancy pay scale 0-16 weeks based on continuous service (small business exempt).

NES minimum notice of termination scales from 1 week to 5 weeks based on service + age 45+.

Employees can refuse to monitor, read, or respond to out-of-hours contact unless refusal is unreasonable.

Wrong classifications and missed increments led to underpaid overtime, shift loadings and minimum engagement for professional staff, and underpaid casual academic rates (2015-2025). Murdoch self-reported in March 2022.

Payroll configuration errors and clerical oversights meant UQ breached its 2014, 2018 and 2021 enterprise agreements (minimum engagement, casual pay codes, PhD rates, unrecorded overtime) between 2017 and 2026. FWO called it the 15th university EU.

The coal miner did not pay out accrued personal leave and allowance components to employees made redundant under the Black Coal Mining Industry Award (2016-2023), across 14 Qld and NSW mine sites. It self-reported after a related APESMA court case.

UNSW admitted underpaying casual academics and some professional staff under its enterprise agreements from 2014 to 2023 and breaching record-keeping and pay slip rules. FWO cited record-keeping failures, poor governance and payroll deficiencies.

CDU breached its 2013, 2018 and 2022 enterprise agreements for casual professional and academic staff (rates, penalties, minimum engagement, overtime) between 2016 and 2022. A decentralised payroll and poor configuration were blamed.

The national charity lacked systems to identify which award or agreement covered staff and misclassified some, underpaying minimum rates and other entitlements from 2016 to 2024. It also failed to keep proper records.

Mis-configured time-and-attendance and payroll systems plus misread agreement terms caused underpayments of base rates, sleepovers, overtime, broken shifts and more (2017-2025). Affected staff included young workers and nearly 400 visa holders.

The aged care provider underpaid overtime, weekend penalties, shift loadings and allowances from 2017 to 2024 because of time-and-attendance system issues and a manual payroll process. It self-reported in November 2023.

The SA community services provider's payroll misapplied its enterprise agreements and missed annual wage increases from 2015 to 2025. It self-reported in May 2023.

UNSW admitted failing to make and keep records for 63 casual academics in its Business School (2017-2022) and omitting casual loading from pay slips. The judge called the failures systemic and long-standing, saying they hindered FWO's underpayment investigation.

UTAS failed to pay casual professional staff 3-hour minimum engagements, shift penalties and other entitlements over 11 years, and did not keep accurate casual time records. Causes were poor governance and payroll deficiencies; it self-reported in 2021.

Mostly casual sessional academics were underpaid for tutorials, lectures and minimum engagements over 11 years because of inconsistent activity descriptions in timesheets and teaching documents. Monash self-reported in 2021 and again in 2024.

QUT breached its professional staff enterprise agreements, mainly by not paying overtime, TOIL, minimum rates, meal allowances, casual loading and minimum engagement, due to poor governance and payroll errors. It self-reported in 2021.

Westpac self-reported underpayments across multiple enterprise agreements from 2014 to 2025, caused by system, governance and oversight failures (leave/TOIL deductions, part-time hours, super, classification). The EU locks in an independent audit and governance measures.

FWO enforcement focus 2025: Closing Loopholes No. 2 reforms — casuals (new definition), right to disconnect, gig economy minimum standards, intentional wage theft criminal offence.

Closing Loopholes No. 2 Act 2024 introduced criminal offence of intentional wage theft from 1 January 2025 — Up to 10 years imprisonment + significant fines.

Woolworths self-reported and FWO investigated underpayment of approximately 19,000 salaried managers under the General Retail Industry Award over multiple years. Total underpayment exceeded $1 billion.

Self-reported underpayment of ~$60M to ~30,000 staff over multiple years across Rebel, Supercheap, Macpac.

CBA self-reported underpayment of superannuation guarantee to ~7,400 employees over multiple years.

Rockpool admitted underpayment of ~1,500 staff across multiple venues over 5+ years; $1.6M backpaid + court penalties.

Multi-year disputes around gig-economy worker status; FWC determined Deliveroo rider was employee (overturned on appeal); ongoing reform under Closing Loopholes Act.

Service station franchisor + franchisees prosecuted for underpayment of visa-holder workers + record-keeping breaches.

Bunnings self-reported allowance and petty-cash payment errors affecting employees; remediation announced.

FWO investigation into Grill'd franchisor / franchisee underpayment matters.

Self-disclosed underpayment of admin + paralegal staff; common in legal services industry due to award misclassification.