The data shows that the unlawful underpayment of employees’ remuneration, commonly known as ‘wage theft’, has a significant impact on women.
The Government has recently issued a Discussion Paper canvassing penalties for wage theft. However, in our view neither the discussion paper nor the proposed remedies came to terms with the extent and implications of non-compliance with legal wage and entitlements requirements. For this reason, we welcome the opportunity offered by this Inquiry to extend the national conversation on wage theft beyond the limited proposals raised in the discussion paper.