Spotless has agreed to audit employment records in every State and Territory in a move aimed at ensuring its 30,000 employees are being paid properly. It has followed a lead set by McDonald’s, Domino’s and Red Rooster.
Spotless, in collaboration with the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO), has agreed that two of its entities – Spotless Services Limited and Berkeley Challenge Pty Ltd – will self-audit the employment records of about 1500 workers to ensure employees are getting their full entitlements.
Spotless Services, primarily involved in catering, employs some 4200 people and Berkeley Challenge, primarily involved in cleaning, employs about 4000.
“We congratulate Spotless for showing corporate responsibility to the thousands of young and casual workers on its payroll,” Fair Work Ombudsman Nicholas Wilson said.
When McDonald’s signed the first Pro-Active Compliance Deed in mid-2011, Wilson said then that the initiative was a terrific model for other companies, large and small, to follow.
Under the latest Deed, posted on the FWO’s website, Spotless has agreed to audit a sample of employment records between 13 June and 1 November, 2011.
The process is expected to take until the end of June, after which Spotless will provide a report to the FWO on its findings.
Spotless is undertaking the task voluntarily and has agreed to immediately correct any underpayments it might discover.
The Deed follows about 200 complaints to the FWO from employees of Spotless-owned companies over a six-year period resulting in back-payments of $200,000.
It also follows a FWO investigation which found that hundreds of casual employees employed at Paterson’s Stadium in Perth on Anzac Day in 2009 and 2010 had been underpaid almost $85,000.
Spotless rectified most of the underpayments in June and July last year, but the FWO still holds more than $31,000 back-pay for underpaid employees who could not be located.
‘Under the Deed, Spotless acknowledges there are opportunities for continuous improvement in relation to its workplace practices and accepts responsibility for developing systems and processes to maintain ongoing compliance with Commonwealth workplace laws,’ said the FWO press release.