A Fair Work Ombudsman campaign has found that 25 per cent of pharmacies nationally are not fully compliant with workplace laws and paying workers correctly.
In response to receiving a large number of complaints from pharmacy workers, Fair Work Inspectors selected hundreds of privately owned community pharmacies – those not connected to hospitals – for audit earlier this year.
Of the 523 audits completed, 132 (25 per cent) had non-compliance issues.
Of those with issues, 98 businesses had underpaid 599 employees a total of $280,912, while others had pay slip, record-keeping and technical breaches.
Compliance rates varied across the country:
NSW: Of 185 audits completed, 54 had breaches, including 45 businesses underpaying 253 employees $196,715.
QLD: Of 157 audits completed, 19 had breaches, including 13 businesses underpaying 20 employees a total of $17,729.
VIC: Of 87 audits completed, 43 had breaches, including 29 businesses underpaying 251 employees $54,480.
TAS: Of 38 audits completed, six had breaches, including four having underpaid 27 employees a total of $5,529.
SA: Of 29 audits completed, two had breaches.
ACT: Of 13 audits completed, one Canberra business had minor technical breaches.
NT: Of eight audits completed, three had breaches, including two at Darwin underpaying 38 employees $3,103.
WA: Of six audits completed, four had breaches, including three at Perth underpaying seven employees $3,120.
Common non-compliance issues nationally included underpayment of penalty rates and casual loading, failing to include sufficient detail on pay slips, not keeping accurate records of hour’s staff worked, non-payment or underpayment of staff uniform allowances and failure to provide minimum shift hours.
Published: Friday, December 16, 2013
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