“A detailed review is underway to confirm how penalties, allowances and loadings should have been calculated and applied over the past six years to about 2500 ‘flat-rate’ casual staff,” Ms Donaldson said.
“Current and former casual employees who might be affected are being notified and the ABC is reviewing its processes to address the issue for the future. The Fair Work Ombudsman has been notified and the ABC is liaising with them in relation to this situation.”
It is unclear how much the ABC owes staff because of the error. The review will determine a dollar amount. The ABC could be liable for huge back payments due to the underpayments. In September last year, Caltex acknowledge it had paid out more than $5.7 million for underpayments, about a quarter of the $20 million it set aside for compensation, although at the time half of its franchises were yet to be audited.
In August 2017, Super Retail group admitted to underpaying its workers by nearly $8 million.
“Clearly the total bill for underpaid wages is going to be substantial and comes at a time when the ABC can ill afford it. The scale of this mistake over so many years would be unacceptable in any workplace, let alone at our national broadcaster,” CPSU ABC Section Secretary Sinddy Ealy said.
“We’ve had concerns about the ABC’s over-reliance on and payment of casual workers for years. As recently as 2016 the CPSU was assured by the ABC that it was paying casual employers in accordance with the terms and conditions of the ABC staff agreement – clearly that is not the case.”
The Australian Council of Trade Unions condemned the ABC, labelled the error “systemic wage theft”.
“The work that union members at the ABC have done to expose this shows the power of working people standing together and fighting back. There is nothing more important for protecting your rights at work than joining your union,” ACTU President Michele O’Neil said.
“This is truly appalling conduct from the ABC, the underpayment of huge amounts of money from thousands of employees is outrageous and will never be tolerated.
from Just News Viral http://bit.ly/2VBrk9X
0 Comments