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Message started by whiteknight on Aug 8th, 2018 at 7:21am

Title: Ombudsman Recovers $44,000 In Lost Wages
Post by whiteknight on Aug 8th, 2018 at 7:21am
Ombudsman recovers $44,000 in lost wages from Degani cafes

7 August 2018
Sydney Morning Herald


The Fair Work Ombudsman says cafe brand Degani needs to make a “greater investment” in ensuring workplace laws are followed after a review of stores resulted in 13 infringement and compliance notices.   :-?

The watchdog audited 16 stores across the cafe network after receiving “a high number of requests” from the community. It found issues including underpayments and record-keeping breaches at 15 of these stores, with only one outlet found to be following the rules.


The investigation has resulted in more than $44,000 of staff underpayments being recovered, as well as the issuing of 10 formal cautions, eight compliance notices and five infringement notices being issued to outlets.

Degani Bakery Cafe was founded in 1999 in the Melbourne suburb of Clifton Hill and has since grown to a network of close to 60 stores.

According to a comprehensive compliance report from the ombudsman, paying correct penalty rates and keeping proper records were the two biggest issues.   :(


Nine of the 15 stores found to have broken the rules were not compliant with paying weekend penalty rates, while eight weren’t doing the record keeping required of them.   

This lack of record-keeping stopped the ombudsman’s office from being able to work out the full extent of what some workers were owed.


“We uncovered issues with record-keeping at several Degani outlets that hindered our ability to determine exactly how much back-pay the employees were owed,” Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said on Tuesday.

A Templestowe Degani outlet “could not be fully assessed” because the business failed to respond to requests for documents. The store was eventually issued a formal caution over its lack of records.

Fair Work has been involved in actions with individual Degani stores in recent months. In February, it took a Greensborough outlet to the Federal Circuit Court for allegedly using false records to conceal underpayments.

Director of Workplace Law Shane Koelmeyer told Fairfax Media that broad reports into workplace compliance like this one showed a culture shift was still needed in the hospitality sector.

“It’s a culture shift that has to come from education. And what we tell a lot of small businesses is: get these things right at the start. With a lot of entrepreneurs, the education that is so far being missed is what’s required from an employment law point of view," he says.


The ombudsman’s report highlighed that going forward, franchise operators will have to do more to ensure their franchisees are obeying workplace laws.

The Protecting Vulnerable Workers Act, which was passed last year, means franchisors can now be held responsible for underpayments across franchised store networks.

The ombudsman said while Degani was cooperative and had taken steps to help it inform its franchisees and licensees about their requirements under workplace law, “the findings indicate Degani needs to make a greater investment in compliance throughout its network”.

In a statement, Degani Bakery Cafe said it had taken a number of steps to make sure its store operators met their workplace law obligations. The business says it has been working with the ombudman's office since 2016.

Changes include issuing every Degani cafe with a membership of the Australian Retailers Association so they can get HR advice from leading experts, as well as introducing new payroll systems and providing more training to franchisees.

“We recognise that while our business may have had an imperfect record in the past, we are working hard to ensure it has a far better record in future," Degani Australia chief executive Darren Lane said in a statement.

Title: Re: Ombudsman Recovers $44,000 In Lost Wages
Post by whiteknight on Aug 8th, 2018 at 7:27am
fitzmoggs   :(

Yet another example of the new non unionised , workplace where franchisees require little more than the money to buy in and so often have limited knowledge and experience of financial management or managing staff. Good reason to join a union.

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