Commonwealth Bank fined $10.3 million for wage theft   :)
Media Release - February 15, 2024  ACTU
Today the Federal Court fined the Commonwealth Bank $10.3 million for knowingly engaging in wage theft, resulting in underpayments totalling $16 million to over 7,400 workers.

The case was brought on after the Finance Sector Union found that Commonwealth Bank used a systematic scheme of underpaying staff by using individual flexibility arrangements (IFAs), intended to remunerate workers with higher pay rates and bonuses in return for giving up annual leave loading, overtime pay, rostered days off and other allowances.

The ruling comes as the Commonwealth Bank yesterday published a half-yearly profit of $4.8 billion.

Quotes attributable to ACTU President Michele O’Neil:

“The FSU has played a key role in detecting wage theft and holding the Commonwealth Bank to account. Congratulations to the union that stood by Commonwealth Bank workers and can finally see them win justice.

“Wage theft robs working people of money they are rightfully owed and denies them the ability to buy the necessities they need to live. This is real money owed to workers, compounding the impacts of the cost-of-living crisis. Even a small amount of wage theft could mean the difference between paying the rent, buying groceries, or paying for transport costs to work.

“A 10.3 million dollar fine is a significant amount to most, but when you post half-yearly profits of nearly $5 billion dollars, it’s a drop in the ocean. This is why civil penalties are so important in acting as a deterrent to companies that bake in fines as the cost of doing business.”

Quote:

giving up annual leave loading, overtime pay, rostered days off and other allowances.

What about all the unpaid overtime that many workers are doing in Australia?




https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-23/unpaid-overtime-go-home-on-time-day/101683360


Unpaid overtime costing Australians $93 billion a year
could fix the cost-of-living crisis

By business reporter Michael Janda

, updated Wed 23 Nov 2022



In the debate about how to lift workers' pay packets to more closely match their surging cost of living, perhaps serious consideration should be given to simply paying people for all the hours they actually work.

According to the latest research by The Australia Institute (TAI), that alone would net workers an extra $93 billion a year, or about $8,000 for the average worker.

That's because the typical worker is doing 4.3 hours of work a week beyond what they're paid for.

It's worse for full-time employees, who donate almost a full hour a day, or more than six weeks a year, to their employers.

In all, Australian workers are estimated to gift 2.5 billion unpaid hours to their bosses.

"Our research shows unpaid overtime is a systemic, multi-billion-dollar problem which robs Australian workers of time and money," said Eliza Littleton, report author and research economist at the Australia Institute.

"This is time theft. Unpaid overtime harms our quality of life and reduces our time with family, friends and those we care for."

These figures come from an annual survey conducted for TAI between September 6 and 9, which surveyed around 1,410 adults, of whom 876 were employed.

It is a statistically meaningful sample size, and the survey results are also backed by a litany of recent Fair Work actions against employers found to be underpaying their staff.