Relationships Australia Queensland (RAQ) has back-paid 980 staff more than $5.6 million, including superannuation and interest, and signed an Enforceable Undertaking (EU) with the Fair Work Ombudsman to embed workplace compliance.
The not-for-profit organisation engages employees across Queensland, including in regional areas, and provides support services for individuals, families and communities in relation to addiction, trauma, relationships and domestic violence.
RAQ initially identified underpayments while negotiating its 2019 enterprise agreement, and a compliance review it put in place subsequently identified further underpayments that led RAQ to self-report to the FWO in April 2023.
Employees had been underpaid their base rates of pay, leave payments including annual leave loadings, shift penalties and loadings, overtime, allowances, payment for higher duties, and entitlements under a scheme that allowed them to purchase additional leave.
The wage rates that RAQ paid didn't meet the minimums required by the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award 2010 and an Equal Remuneration Order associated with its enterprise agreements of 2019 and 2014.
A full review commissioned by RAQ found further issues, including that incorrect pay rises had been applied under a 2014 enterprise agreement. Employees had also been assigned incorrect pay points when transitioning from the 2014 agreement to the 2019 agreement.
In total, RAQ underpaid 980 current and former employees between December 2014 and April 2023, with total back-payments of $5.64 million in wages and entitlements, including about $450,000 in superannuation and nearly $890,000 in interest.
Individual back-payments ranged from small sums to $55,137. The average back-payment is just under $4,400.
RAQ has fully back-paid all the workers it has been able to locate. For the 11 former staff members the organisation was unable to find, the remaining $4,940 will be distributed if they are subsequently found. Workers can use the search function on the FWO's website to check if amounts are owing to them.
Underpaid employees worked statewide, including on the Gold Coast, in Cairns and Townsville, as well as in the Brisbane headquarters.
They worked full-time, part-time, and casually, as counselling and case work officers, administration and information officers, community engagement and education officers, service leaders and managers.
Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said an EU was appropriate, given RAQ had cooperated with the FWO throughout its investigation, had been proactive in identifying and rectifying underpayments, and was taking steps to ensure employees were correctly paid in the future.
"Under the Enforceable Undertaking, Relationships Australia Queensland has committed to implementing stringent measures to ensure all its workers are paid correctly. This includes two independent audits and regularly reporting to its board on workplace compliance," Ms Booth said.
"RAQ's hard-working employees are working with vulnerable members of the Queensland community and deserve every cent of their correct pay.
"We expect employers to be proactive in getting workers' pay and entitlements right, and that includes regularly ensuring enterprise agreements continue to meet legal minimums.
"Employers must pay the right rates set by underlying relevant awards and are required to comply with Equal Remuneration Orders."
The EU also includes a commitment to notifying employees about the EU, maintaining an email inbox for employee queries regarding EU matters until the end of June 2025, and providing the FWO with evidence of the implementation of a new employee time and attendance system.
RAQ will establish a consultative committee for workers, with workplace relations compliance a standing agenda item at committee meetings.
