Carlos* whose name has been changed at his request pursued his unpaid wages totalling $10,000, from a Sydney based cleaning company he was working for, only to have $56 paid because that’s all the company could demonstrate they had left in their accounts.
After the amount Carlos was owed ticked over $10,000 he sought advice from the Redfern Legal Centre, in inner city Sydney.
“It’s shocking and it’s crazy. There’s a word for working with no payment — it’s called slavery and it shouldn’t happen in Australia,” Carlos told news.com.au.
Carlos is one of the thousands of workers in Australia who are annually dudded out of around $1 billion in wages by unscrupulous firms.
Reports state victims are extremely vulnerable and often with English as a second language, so employers view them as an easy target. Workers are victims of wage theft with relatively low paid roles in hospitality, cleaning and construction.
The minimum wage was reported as being $17.70 but as most students and backpackers worked casually they should receive a 25 per cent loading bringing the hourly rate up to around $23 depending on the industry.
Read the full article here (30 October 2018)
