I'm surprised it hasn't been a law already?? Forget calling it "wage theft", it's literally just "theft".
this post was submitted on 29 Dec 2024
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I'm surprised it hasn't been a law already??
why would it be? the people who make laws don't work for wages, they pay them.
Ya but you see one is for the poor to be thrown in prison. The other is performance art that comes with a "fine"
It's been like that in Victoria for a few years, but yeah, disappointing that it's not treated like any other type of theft.
"deliberate" seems like a pretty high bar. Of course it doesn't stop employer groups crying that literally stealing is being made illegal.
Hopefully if an employer does it repeatedly, that meets the bar of deliberately.
I hope you're right, but I suspect a case like this will not count still because "oh the payroll didn't work properly" means you didn't do an audit but you didn't deliberately do it.
i’d imagine if an employee brings up that they’re being underpaid (perhaps anonymously), and then nothing changes then that constituted deliberate
Yeah, seems a bit hard to prove if the wage theft is "deliberate" or a mistake.
And sometimes they deliberately allow mistakes that occur in their favour.
Crazy wage theft has only been a civil matter up until now and not criminal. In the US wage theft outpaces theft from stores for value taken from people, I imagine it would be much the same here
Laws are written by rich often white men. Don’t be surprised when the law benefits people of their class.
The important point in this situation is that the ruling class is the owning class; the bourgeoisie. The racial and sexual composition of that class may change (and is already different in many countries), but we should not mistake that for a solution because until there is economic overhaul, the owning class is the class which determines and benefits from laws.
While you are correct that the most influential in Australia are rich and often also 'white' men, we must remember that these laws are ultimately written by politicians subject to capital owners, and written to benefit capital owners. That's why wage theft was only a civil matter - because business owners of all stripes benefit from wage theft.
The article doesn't mention superannuation, I wonder whether that's also covered?
I'm fairly sure that a former employer underpaid my super to the tune of about $5k, but I was young and lazy and stupidly didn't follow that up.
It's a bit hard to go back 15 years later and ask. I don't really even know what he should have paid vs. what he actually paid. My suspicion comes from other employees complaining that super was not being paid.
The ATO would know, and while they are slow, once it is raised with them if there are any legitimate issues they get there in the end. About 5 years after I left a job I got a letter out of the blue from the ATO saying that they'd chased down a quarter's worth of super payments that the business didn't pay when I left.
Perhaps not 15 years later though, but it's worth a shot.
That happened at my workplace. The ATO was notified, and after a lengthy investigation each staff member were repaid tens of thousands of dollars, including the extra that would have been generated through super growth.
The ATO does not muck around.
The article doesn’t mention superannuation, I wonder whether that’s also covered?
5th line down.
But it will have to prove that the employer intentionally avoided paying a worker appropriate wages and penalties, superannuation or other entitlements.
Wow, kinda late on that one. Also, deliberate can be difficult to prove. I'm not entitled to break the law by accident, so why are they?
I'd be happier with the assumption that any wage theft is deliberate and they need to prove otherwise.
It's not hard (this isn't legal advice). If you find there has been an error (intentional or otherwise), document it, send it to them in writing.
They're now fucked if they are in the wrong because now they know, and if they continue to not pay you, or threaten you job over it, they're risking a lot more than before.
thanks labor
Further deep dive thought: any instance of wage theft - 'accidental' or otherwise- prompts an immediate audit into the entire business and all employee pay rates.
"Could". Call me when a scumbag boss actually gets even half that max penalty