In Australia, and almost certainly most countries, there have been stories of wage underpayment in mainly the food and hospitality industries.

A restaurant group underpaid their staff by $8 million dollars in total and today a supermarket chain admitted an underpayment of $20 million. Both have or will backpay the lost earnings.

There are many reasons underpayments could happen and yet there is no equivalent massive overpayments, although people may be slower to report any such cases. People deserve to be paid for their work and paid fully including for overtime. It has been suggested that this ‘theft’ would be a criminal offense and jailable.

Next time you go to a restaurant, check that the smiling people serving you are being fully paid and if there is any doubt suggest to the owner that you are only going to pay part of the cost. Eat well, pay well.

Dennis Fitzgerald
Melbourne, Australia