Hamilton Island operators sign Enforceable Undertaking
The companies responsible for the operation of Hamilton Island in Queensland have back-paid staff more than $28.1 million and have signed an Enforceable Undertaking (EU) with the Fair Work Ombudsman.
Hamilton Island Enterprises Limited (HIE) operates a range of accommodation businesses on Hamilton Island, as well as ancillary businesses including the marina, airport, retail stores, restaurants, and leisure and recreation facilities. HIE is also responsible for the public utility services on Hamilton Island and the provision of some emergency services.
HIE’s wholly owned subsidiary Hamilton Island Shared Services Pty Ltd (HISS) provides support services to HIE for finance, bookings, sales and marketing.
The Fair Work Ombudsman began to investigate the wages and entitlements of salaried staff in 2020, following requests for assistance.
Most of the underpayments were the result of the companies paying many full-time employees annual salaries that were insufficient to cover their minimum Award entitlements, given many often performed overtime, shift-work and work attracting penalty rates.
The most common entitlements underpaid included overtime rates, weekend and public holiday penalty rates, broken-shift allowances and annual leave loading.
The large majority of the underpaid staff worked across the range of businesses HIE operates on Hamilton Island, with a smaller number employed by HISS located at HIE’s corporate headquarters in Sydney.
Most underpaid workers were covered by the Hospitality Industry (General) Awards 2010 and 2020, with others covered by more than 20 different Awards.
Some common roles of underpaid workers included food and beverage supervisors, assistant restaurant managers, chefs, front office employees, clerical employees, housekeeping employees, handymen and concierges.
To date, the companies have back-paid a total of $28.1 million, including more than $6 million in interest and about $500,000 in superannuation, to 2,152 current and former staff who were underpaid between December 2014 and December 2022.
A further $250,984, plus an additional $10,954 in superannuation, is to be paid to unclaimed monies for 32 employees not yet found. Workers can use the search function on the FWO’s website to check if amounts are owing to them.
The EU requires the companies to quantify and rectify staff underpayments since December 2014 by 30 June of this year.
Individual back-payments have ranged from less than $5, up to $119,446 in one instance. The average back-payment has been about $8,000.
The companies must also make a combined $750,000 contrition payment, with $500,000 to be paid to the Commonwealth Consolidated Revenue Fund and $250,000 to the not-for-profit Cleaning Accountability Framework.
Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said an EU was an appropriate outcome as the companies had cooperated with the FWO’s investigation and demonstrated a strong commitment to rectifying its non-compliance issues and ensuring future compliance.
“Under the Enforceable Undertaking, the companies have committed to rectifying all underpayments they identify in full, plus interest and superannuation, and implementing stringent measures to ensure all staff are paid correctly in future,” Ms Booth said.
Ms Booth said underpayments resulting from insufficient annual salaries for employees covered by Awards had become a persistent issue among businesses of all sizes across many industries.
“Businesses paying annual salaries cannot take a ‘set-and-forget’ approach to paying their workers. Employers must ensure wages being paid are sufficient to cover all minimum lawful entitlements for the hours their employees are actually working,” Ms Booth said.
The EU also requires the companies to commission one independent audit of its payments of salaried employees, tabling results to HIE’s Board and reporting the results to the FWO; commission workplace relations training for relevant staff; recruit a Compliance Officer within HIE to monitor its compliance with workplace laws; run a dedicated employee hotline and email address for employees and/or their representatives to make any workplace relations queries; and embed mechanisms that promote consultation with employees and their representatives with results reported to the Board, including running an employee engagement survey and holding employee feedback sessions every three months for the life of the undertaking.
Employers and employees can visit www.fairwork.gov.au or call the Fair Work Infoline on 13 13 94 for free advice and assistance. An interpreter service is available on 13 14 50.
Employees can also seek information from their employer and their union if they are a union member.
