ATO, Fair Work raid Gold Coast eateries
If higher petrol prices, interest rates, electricity rates, food and wages costs were not enough, the Gold Coast’s hospitality sector this week had the privilege of being raided by Fair Work Ombudsman and the Australian Taxation Office this week.
Fair Work and ATO officials made surprise visits to 25 fast food outlets, restaurants and cafés have received surprise visits in Nerang and surrounding suburbs this week.
The raids were to check they are paying employees correctly, and complying with record-keeping, tax and super laws. The federal agencies also visited some Broadbeach businesses that Fair Work had previously inspected.
The targeted inspections were based on factors such as anonymous reports, a history of non-compliance, or the employment of vulnerable workers such as visa holders.
Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said ensuring food sector employers are paying workers all they are owed and meeting their record-keeping obligations was a priority for Fair Work.
“Improving compliance with workplace laws in the fast food, restaurants and cafés industry is a priority for us, as the sector employs many workers who can be vulnerable to exploitation, such as visa holders and young people,” Ms Booth said.
“These Gold Coast inspections combine first-time visits to many employers and revisits to some others, and are part of our efforts to ensure those who are doing the wrong thing are found out and held to account.
“Workers must receive all owed wages and superannuation. It’s also important for visa holders in the sector to know they have the same workplace rights as all other workers and are encouraged to reach out to us for assistance.”
ATO Assistant Commissioner Tony Goding said cooking the books by ripping off your workers or dodging tax and super obligations did not pass the pub test.
“Fast food outlets, cafés and restaurants operating in the shadow economy deliberately disadvantage honest businesses, short-change the community and steal from their employees’ futures,” Mr Goding said.
“That’s why we’ve been out and about on the Gold Coast this week with the Fair Work Ombudsman to investigate.”
Mr Goding said Operation Crimson revealed a number of concerning practices.
“If you run a business, take this as your warning that you can’t get away with exploiting your workers or ripping off the community,” Mr Goding said.
“At the ATO we have a range of sophisticated methods to detect shadow economy activities and we also work closely with our partner agencies like the Fair Work Ombudsman to catch out those doing the wrong thing, including regularly sharing intelligence and community tip-offs.
“Where we discover deliberate wrongdoing, significant penalties will apply.”
The Fair Work Ombudsman previously recovered more than $215,700 in wages for nearly 450 underpaid workers after auditing 50 Gold Coast eateries in and around Southport and Broadbeach in 2020. The audit found 88 per cent of those businesses were non-compliant with workplace laws.
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