A company that cleans a major shopping complex in Adelaide’s eastern suburbs underpaid eight of its employees more than $14,000 over nine months, states a Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) 23 June press release.
‘NewKlean Management Services Pty Ltd, of Main North Road, Prospect, paid its cleaners a flat hourly rate for all hours worked, which did not meet the minimum provisions of the Cleaning Services Award 2010.
‘The eight underpaid employees swept and mopped floors, cleaned toilets, collected rubbish, dusted hard surfaces, wiped and swept under and around seats and table tops at the Burnside Shopping Centre for various periods between July, 2012 and March, 2013.
‘The flat hourly rate of $17 to $20 they received was below the minimum hourly rate and did not include penalty rates for weekends and public holidays, casual loadings, overtime or broken shift allowances,’ said the release.
The FWO pointed out that under the Cleaning Services Award 2010, the employees should have been paid between $19.16 and $34.10 an hour, subject to their shift. The underpayments ranged from $50 to $4729, with other individuals owed amounts totalling $2578, $2098 and $1776.
‘As part of an Enforceable Undertaking signed by the company’s sole director Chau Huynh, NewKlean will apologise to each of the affected former staff and reimburse them all outstanding entitlements.
‘Ms Huynh has also agreed to undertake specialist workplace relations training and engage independent auditors to review and report on her company’s compliance with workplace laws once a year for the next three years,’ said the FWO.
The FWO also recently announced that:
* Melbourne cleaning company Jorgensen Property Services Pty Ltd had signed an Enforceable Undertaking after it was found to have underpaid 16 cleaners more than $50,000, and
* Sydney-based Fleet Cleaning Pty Ltd had signed an Enforceable Undertaking after an audit last year revealed that 53 former and current employees had been underpaid more than $40,000.