Whether it is wage theft, outdated enterprise agreements, or traineeships subsidised by the government, an ominous cloud has hung over the country's labour force for years, writes Adele Ferguson.
Until then, most cases involving the franchise industry historically targeted individual franchisees, with head office getting off virtually unscathed.
In February it took action against the franchisor of 85 Degrees Coffee, alleging as a "responsible franchisor entity" it is legally liable for alleged contraventions by its franchisees, including underpayments of workers months after it was hit with a $475,000 fine in court after being found to have hired Taiwanese students on internships then paying them $1750 a month — or less than $450 a week — for up to 70 hours of work a week in factories and retail stores in Sydney.
In the case of Chatime, it looked at a select group of corporate stores in Melbourne and Sydney and alleged $169,000 in underpayments to workers. In some cases, workers were allegedly paid as little as $7.59 an hour, which is far below the award rate.The legal action was aimed at Chatime and alleged that the managing director was complicit, which he denied.
But more than that it will send a message to the franchising sector about how serious — or not — the courts take wage theft and the responsibility of those at the top., there have been a lot of promises and a string of parliamentary inquiries, but not enough has changed. The Fair Work Ombudsmen was given a bigger budget and the power to impose higher penalties and Victoria moved to criminalise wage fraud. Federally there were promises to do the same, but workers are still waiting.
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