Prosecutions to be brought against Chili’s for failing to pay up
NSW Minister for Industrial Relations, John Della Bosca, said today the Iemma Government would be prosecuting Chili’s chain of restaurants for failing to cough up unpaid wages for young staff.
Mr Della Bosca said Chili’s management had failed to meet the 21-day deadline to respond to a Notice of Compliance issued by the NSW Office of Industrial Relations.
“The Notice, which was issued after an investigation identified initial underpayments of over $45,000 for 27 workers across the five Chili’s outlet, directed the chain to ensure all other employees, including ex-employees, receive any outstanding underpayments.
“It is unfortunate that Chili’s management has not taken this opportunity provided by the Iemma Government to meet their obligations,” Mr Della Bosca said.
“The Office of Industrial Relations is now instigating the prosecution process on behalf of the unpaid workers to recover the non-payment of wages
“The company will face fines of up to $11,000 for each incident that breaches NSW industrial relations laws.
“We think the amounts discovered to date are just the tip of the iceberg and more action will be taken to get illegally reduced payments returned to Chili’s workers.
“The NSW Office of Industrial Relations will now go over all the company’s employment documents.
“The AWAs used by Chili’s removed award entitlements such as penalty rates, public holiday, minimum weekly engagements and laundry allowance of their employees, which are protected under the Iemma Government’s child employment laws.
“These laws were put in place to protect young workers under 18 years of age and address the exploitation occurring under Work Choices.
“These laws ensure young people, regardless of the work contract they are on, receive wages and conditions that at least match the relevant State award and are protected from unfair dismissal.
“They are backed up by guidelines for employers set down by the NSW Industrial Relations Commission to put limitations on night and morning shifts and enforce Occupation Health and Safety requirements.
“Poor working conditions which compromise a young worker’s safety or their future success are unacceptable, but under Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) this is an epidemic,” the Minister said.
“Unlike the Commonwealth Workplace Ombudsman, the Iemma Government is committed to ensuring that young workers receive their full entitlements and get the wages and entitlements that are owed to them,” Mr Della Bosca said.
“Mr Howard’s so-called ‘fairness test’ is so vague, complex and open for exploitation that ‘fairness’ could be little more than an employer providing vague non-monetary benefits in exchange for significant monetary entitlements, such as weekend penalty rates and overtime.
“It is also a total sham because it doesn’t apply to the 300,000 AWAs currently in the workplace.
“Work Choices needs to be replaced with a fair, transparent and equitable system – that is what all NSW families, businesses and the health sector deserve – the only way to achieve this is through a Kevin Rudd-led federal government,” Mr Della Bosca added.
NSW MInister for Industrial Relations
19th October 2007
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PROTECTING AUSSIE JOBS 
