Some employers in Australia appear to be taking advantage of a key part of their workforce, according to a new study published in July by the Center for Employment and Labor Relations Law at the University of Melbourne law school.
The survey of 2,814 workers in Australia aged 18–30 found that they worked for less than agreed upon, or employers would cut their pay, among other labor law violations. The youth unemployment rate in Australia is 9.2%, more than double the country’s official unemployment rate, and leaves workers open to more exploitation, the study’s authors posited.
One in three respondents were “likely underpaid,” making almost AU$10/hour less than the country’s AU$24.95 minimum wage, while other respondents said they were taken advantage of in other ways. Some 43% of young workers claimed they were obligated to perform tasks outside their work duties and were not compensated for that additional work, while 35% said their employer adjusted their worked hours. Roughly 18% of respondents said they were not paid “at all” for their work at their lowest-paid jobs.
Employers in Australia are not supposed to impose costs like personal protective equipment or tools for the job onto employees, yet the study found that workers often paid for work necessities like tools (12%), uniforms (29%) and other equipment (11%).
Finally, workers reported that employers frequently denied or withheld legally required entitlements including retirement contributions (25%), adequate breaks (36%) and overtime pay (35%). Temporary and contract workers in the retail and restaurant industries were most likely to be affected.
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“Young people don’t have much industrial knowledge or experience, so are easy to take advantage of,” John Howe, the study’s lead author and professor at the University of Melbourne, told the Guardian. “They are also unlikely to challenge an employer, as many of them are in insecure work and they worry about losing their jobs.”
The report’s authors noted that young people in Australia are less likely to work for unions than older colleagues or understand worker rights, and more likely to have contract jobs, which increase the probability of exploitation. Employers who take advantage of workers often aren’t held accountable because employees are afraid to or don’t know how to report the infractions. “Participants experienced employers normalizing bad workplace practices,” the report found, noting that the onus is often on the worker to insist on their rights.
In May, Erudite Legal, an Australian law firm, was fined $50,000 for wage theft of a junior staffer, according to the Australian Financial Review. The former employee was required to work up to 24 hours a day, which exacerbated a medical condition. She worked for the now-defunct firm less than a month, and failed to pay her for $8,000 of work.
Wage theft became a criminal offense in Australia on Jan. 1 this year, creating stronger protections for workers and more penalties for employers that intentionally underpay workers.