By Jessica Yun
Corporate leaders caught underpaying staff should expect zero sympathy from new Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth, who believes chief executives and board directors are directly responsible for any failures to pay correct wages.
Booth, who in early September took over former ombudsman Sandra Parker’s job as the nation’s top workplace cop, acknowledged there was a “continuum” of businesses with no intention or knowledge of underpaying workers all the way through to those that deliberately and systematically commit wage theft.
However, she warned businesses against hiding behind the excuse of an overly bureaucratic or complex payroll system.
“I do think that the red tape is a bit of a furphy,” Booth said.
Anna Booth is six weeks into her role as the new Fair Work Ombudsman.Credit: Louie Douvis
“Let’s say we’re in the care sector and we’re looking at one support worker. We do know what time they started work; we do know what time they finished work. Even if they had a split shift, we know exactly when that first shift finished and the next shift started. We do know what level they should be paid at. We can multiply hours by the rate of pay and that gets you the quantum.
“It is sometimes an easy defence mechanism to blame complexity or blame red tape,” she said.
While Booth said each instance should be assessed case by case, one of the key areas of scrutiny this year would be large corporations and universities. Agriculture, construction, care and hospitality sectors are also on the list of priorities, but Booth expects the bosses of established organisations to leave no room for error.
“I don’t think there is any excuse for it. Boards of companies, whether they be for profit or not for profit, have a business concerning themselves with the integrity of their payroll,” she said.
“I don’t intend to go around offending people, but at the same time, I want to be plain: it is not acceptable to take your eye off the ball and not set up proper time and wages record systems, not confer with your own employees.”
‘Just because you don’t have direct control over the payroll, or you might outsource your payroll to an outsourced provider, doesn’t mean that as a board, you don’t have governance responsibility.’
Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth
Booth joins Fair Work for a five-year term as ombudsman and brings 8½ years’ experience as a deputy president at the Fair Work Commission, which is concerned with the creation of workplace rules and industry awards, while the ombudsman’s office is responsible for compliance, education and prevention.
Her new role puts her on the other side of the coin, enforcing the rules she helped craft.
“It’s very satisfying because I spent most of my life in workplace relations in some way.”
Her early career in the trade union movement helped clothing workers win the right to afternoon tea breaks in 1981 and led to her becoming vice president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions in the 1990s.
The 68-year-old’s approach is also shaped by her personal experience as the mother of a daughter with an intellectual disability. She hopes to see Australian workplaces become more welcoming and inclusive of people with disabilities and was particularly pleased with the addition of the care sector to the fair work ombudsman’s list of priority industries. It was included this year after investigations returned $17.7 million in backpay to 7242 workers.
She hopes to create change in the workplace culture of the ombudsman’s office itself.
“I’ll be bringing that perspective internally as CEO,” said Booth, who will later this week meet with an employee network group established with Fair Work employees with disability to discuss how their work experience can be enhanced. “As an employer, I will be focused on this.”
Protecting migrant workers will also continue as an “enduring priority” for the government agency as Australia receives an influx of migrants and the federal government makes visa changes to help plug skill shortages.
Yet-to-be-passed legislation would beef up penalties and lead to employers who deliberately underpay staff facing up to 10 years’ jail and fines of up to $7.8 million. The proposed laws are part of the government’s Closing Loopholes Bill, which has faced fierce backlash from business groups.
Fair Work will “on occasion” seek the maximum penalty to serve as a warning to other employers.
“It does present a wake-up call to the boardrooms of Australia,” Booth said.
“Just because you don’t have direct control over the payroll, or you might outsource your payroll to an outsourced provider, doesn’t mean that as a board, you don’t have governance responsibility to set up a risk strategy to ensure that the workplace laws are complied with.”
Despite her emphasis on executive responsibility, Booth has a keen focus on collaborating with workplaces to prevent underpayment before it happens.
“Ultimately, the prize is preventing workplace contraventions and making sure people are receiving the correct wages and conditions in the first place. The prize isn’t enforcement,” she said.
Headline-grabbing figures, such as the $509 million in unpaid wages and entitlements that Fair Work recovered for more than 250,000 underpaid workers in the 2023 financial year, were “at the end of the pipe”, Booth said.
“I would like to put a lot of emphasis on the beginning of the pipe.”
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