What is Wage Theft?
All employees are entitled to the correct pay and entitlements when they go to work, but that doesn’t always happen.
Most businesses do the right thing, but there are some who deliberately underpay or don’t pay employee entitlements with dishonest intentions.
This is wage theft
and it’s a serious offence, with criminal penalties.
If found guilty, it can result in a large fine or even jail time.
Wage Inspectorate Victoria investigates allegations of wage theft and enforces Victoria’s wage theft laws.
Honest mistakes are not wage theft, but they should be rectified as soon as a business is aware of them.
Staff have a right to their pay and entitlements and employers have an obligation to provide them.
It is the employer’s responsibility to be aware of staff entitlements, and there are various ways employers and employees can get assistance with this.
Victoria’s wage theft laws protect employees and help create fairer workplaces, by ensuring no employer has an unfair advantage.
The laws benefit employees and businesses.
Reporting wage theft is easy.
To find out more visit the Wage Inspectorate Victoria website.
Updated