Four workers at a café in have been back-paid almost $20,000 following recent intervention by the Fair Work Ombudsman. Three female and one male employee were being paid a flat rate of just $14 an hour.
Under the Fast Food Industry Award 2010 they should have received an hourly rate of $23.15 and up to $27.79 on Saturdays. The individual underpayments ranged from $770 to $9674.
The owner said he was unaware of minimum wage rates applicable to his workplace. This is completely unacceptable as an excuse, it is up to every business owner to make themselves aware of the required remuneration for any staff they employee. All awards and wage coverage information can be found on the Fair Work website.