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Canberra Today 25°/29° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

New laws tackle wage theft ‘crisis’

NEW anti wage theft laws passed today (September 24) in the ACT Assembly will support Canberra workers whose wages have been stolen by employers, says UnionsACT. 

The new “Courts (Fair Work and Work Safety) Act 2019” will allow state and territory magistrates courts to hear small claims (wage theft) matters.

UnionsACT secretary Alex White says the new laws restore workers’ rights to access quick, simple and inexpensive justice in the specialised Industrial Magistrates Court.

Alex White
UnionsACT secretary Alex White.

Before, he says the system was time-consuming and expensive, and he says the biggest contributing factor to the wage theft crisis was that unscrupulous employers know that in the unlikely event they are caught, it will be many months, even years, before they must pay back the money they stole from their workers.

“Working people in the ACT are facing a wage theft crisis, with more than 40 per cent of businesses deciding to break one or more of the Fair Work Act requirements,” Mr White says.

“These new laws introduce a simpler, fairer and less expensive system that allows workers and their unions to hold to account unscrupulous bosses who steal wages.”

Currently, more than 45,000 workers in Canberra have had an average of $3400 in superannuation stolen by their employer, according to Industry Super Australia.

And, according to UnionsACT, more than half of all young workers experience wage theft at the hands of their adult employer each year.

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Thank you,

Ian Meikle, editor

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