Bosses forced to pay up.      
The Mercury.
   HELEN KEMPTON   |   April 30, 2013

Tasmanian workers have been awarded more than $100,000 in unpaid wages and entitlements.

RECENT intervention by the Fair Work Ombudsman has returned $116,700 to Tasmanian workers owed money by their employers.    

The biggest payout went to a transport worker in Burnie, who had been underpaid overtime and penalty rates worth $56,000 from 2006 to 2012.

A catering manager from Hobart was back paid after the ombudsman found he was owed $21,800 in penalty rates and redundancy entitlements.

More than 15,000 Tasmanian employees and employers sought advice from the Fair Work Infoline in the past financial year and the ombudsman recovered $640,00 in back pay for about 300 workers over the same time frame.    

Other recent cases involved a Hobart maintenance worker who received more than $20,000 when the ombudsman found he had been underpaid wages and personal leave entitlements in 2011-2012.

Six employees at a Hobart real estate agency shared in $10,000 in underpaid minimum wages and a Launceston construction tradesman was awarded $8400 in underpaid minimum wage entitlements.

Acting Fair Work Ombudsman Michael Campbell said when inspectors found a problem at businesses, most employers checked their records, identified the issue and fixed it immediately.

"These businesses have now corrected the errors that led to the underpayments and put processes in place to ensure they will not happen again," Mr Campbell said.

Employers and staff seeking information on pay should visit www.fairwork.gov.au or call the Infoline, 13 13 94.