Cleaners at Sydney’s Westfield shopping complex employed by Victorian-based company, CleanDomain Pty Ltd, have been reimbursed tens of thousands of dollars after an investigation by the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) found they were underpaid a total of $68,330 between October 2010 and March 2012.

CleanDomain, part of Spotless, has publicly expressed its “sincere regret” for the underpayment of 53 cleaners and apologised to current and former staff, states the 2 October media release. The company has also agreed to seek specialist workplace relations training for its site managers, human resource and payroll staff.

‘CleanDomain will also engage an independent auditor to assess its compliance with workplace laws each year for the next three years and provide the results to the FWO. The company has signed an Enforceable Undertaking with the FWO as an alternative to litigation.

‘The FWO received complaints in December 2010, that CleanDomain was not paying wages, failing to issue pay-slips and was making cash-in-hand payments to some employees. Investigations subsequently identified instances where some employees had not been paid in full for work performed for periods up to five weeks.’

‘Fair Work inspectors also uncovered underpayment of the minimum hourly rate, penalty rates for night, weekend and public holidays and non-payment of some applicable allowances.’

‘In a public memo to its staff, CleanDomain has given its employees a commitment that these contraventions will not be repeated.’

A list of the Enforceable Undertakings entered into by the FWO is available on the website at www.fairwork.gov.au