{"id":12328,"date":"2020-02-24T17:27:32","date_gmt":"2020-02-24T06:27:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/roubler.com\/au\/?p=12328"},"modified":"2021-02-12T16:14:16","modified_gmt":"2021-02-12T05:14:16","slug":"five-ways-to-prevent-wage-theft-and-underpayments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roubler.com\/au\/resources\/blog\/five-ways-to-prevent-wage-theft-and-underpayments\/","title":{"rendered":"Worried about wage theft? Avoid these common mistakes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Coles recently became the latest business to make headlines for wage theft, after it was revealed they had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news.com.au\/finance\/business\/retail\/supermarket-giant-coles-reveals-staff-payment-issue-setting-aside-20-million-to-cover-costs\/news-story\/ed9a01f9d2d1200c7dcaa52cae4183f8\">underpaid their staff<\/a> around AU$20 million over a period of 6 years. The supermarket giant joins the ever-growing list of brands that have admitted to underpaying staff, including Bunnings, Woolworths, Target, Michael Hill and 7-Eleven. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wage theft scandals are a major headache for retailers across Australia, with potential losses amounting to not just hefty fines and back-dated payments, but reputation damage too. So how can businesses navigate the complex modern award system to ensure that their staff aren\u2019t being underpaid? Here are five common mistakes to avoid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. <strong>Treating permanent part time employees as casuals <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>One problem in retail and hospitality is\nthat awards don\u2019t always reflect industry norms. This is particularly\npronounced in the case of part-time workers: under many awards, permanent part-time\nstaff are required to have set shifts each week, which means assigning them\ndifferent shifts to cover demand can mean they are entitled to overtime penalty\nrates. Asking them to work more than their contracted hours can also incur\novertime. Many businesses are effectively treating permanent part-time workers\nas they would casuals, leaving themselves wide open to inadvertently\nunderpaying staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. <strong>Leaving award interpretation up to the payroll team<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Award compliance often falls to payroll teams who often simply do not have the time or expertise to understand every nuance of every award in detail. Today\u2019s payroll professionals deal with a multitude of complex issues including enterprise agreements, leave entitlements, loadings, terminations, superannuation and payroll tax, often across multiple jurisdictions. Many wage theft cases have been put down to a lack of expertise, or sometimes just simple human error. Choosing an automated software system with the ability to build in compliance features can reduce this risk significantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. <strong>Expecting store managers to be compliance experts <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Every roster has legal and compliance implications,\nand yet it\u2019s common for store managers to lack basic knowledge of the\nregulatory requirements of the rosters they are creating. Even if they are\nwell-informed, without the right rostering system, it can be difficult and\ntime-consuming to ensure that employees\u2019 shifts don\u2019t, for example, fall outside\ntheir maximum contracted hours. Using a smart roster that alerts managers to\nany compliance issues can solve this issue and reduce the risk of underpaying\nstaff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4. <strong>Not understanding employees\u2019 super entitlements<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This can result in underpaid superannuation,\nwhich can have severe consequences for employers, including fees, fines and\ninterest on the repayment. Superannuation should be paid on ordinary-time\nearnings, which can also include bonuses, allowances and commissions, but not\novertime. Systematic problems are common \u2013 for example, excluding penalty rates\nfrom superannuation calculations leading to the superannuation being underpaid.\nTo prevent this, make sure your software has award interpretations built-in,\nand the team are aware of the rules. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">5. <strong>Outdated systems and processes <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Most underpayment errors stem from outdated payroll systems. In some businesses, payroll systems have been in place for years without updates to reflect frequent changes in awards. This means that payroll staff have to do manual workarounds just to stay compliant, which significantly increases the possibility for error. Choosing a system that can automate these processes, and will be updated when awards change, can help prevent any issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019d like to find out more about how\nRoubler\u2019s all-in-one workforce management software can help relieve busy\npayroll teams while ensuring compliance, <a href=\"https:\/\/roubler.com\/au\/request-demo\/\">request a demo here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Coles recently became the latest business to make headlines for wage theft, after it was revealed they had &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":12331,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[534,66,887,882],"tags":[528,580,570,991,659,990,988,989,705],"class_list":["post-12328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-hr-headlines","category-business-management","category-payroll-remuneration","tag-award-compliance","tag-fair-work","tag-fair-work-australia","tag-hospitality-award","tag-modern-awards","tag-retail-award","tag-underpayments","tag-unpaid-wages","tag-wage-theft"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Five ways to prevent wage theft and underpayments Roubler Australia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Last week Coles became the latest business to make headlines for wage theft, joining Bunnings, Woolworths and 7-Eleven on the list underpaying staff.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/roubler.com\/au\/resources\/blog\/five-ways-to-prevent-wage-theft-and-underpayments\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Five ways to prevent wage theft and underpayments | Roubler Australia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Last week Coles became the latest business to make headlines for wage theft, joining Bunnings, Woolworths and 7-Eleven on the list underpaying staff.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/roubler.com\/au\/resources\/blog\/five-ways-to-prevent-wage-theft-and-underpayments\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Roubler Australia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-02-24T06:27:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-02-12T05:14:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/roubler.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2020\/02\/wage-theft-underpayments-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fleur Murphy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fleur Murphy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/roubler.com\\\/au\\\/resources\\\/blog\\\/five-ways-to-prevent-wage-theft-and-underpayments\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/roubler.com\\\/au\\\/resources\\\/blog\\\/five-ways-to-prevent-wage-theft-and-underpayments\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Fleur Murphy\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/roubler.com\\\/au\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cacd4782d46b9f538d2803c99d7c1210\"},\"headline\":\"Worried about wage theft? 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