Crown Workers Back-Paid over Self-Reported Underpayment

Australia’s independent government agency helping employees and employers, the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO), announced details Friday regarding a unique backpay case involving the famous gambling and entertainment company in the country, Crown Resorts. The recent announcement reveals that Crown Resorts agreed to engage in back paying some 200 employees after an error related to underpayments was uncovered.

The FWO explained that the underpayments were self-reported by Crown Resorts back in March 2020. It said that some 200 current and former employees of the company were underpaid some AU$1.03 million ($688,000) between June 2014 and June 2020. The aforementioned sum, the Ombudsman said, excluded superannuation, interest and gratuity.

In light of the case, the FWO confirmed that Crown Resorts’ operators Crown Perth and Crown Melbourne agreed to pay back current and former employees some AU$1.2 million ($801,500), which is a sum including superannuation, interest and an additional gratuity payment. Additionally, the companies penned an Enforceable Undertaking (EU) with the Ombudsman.

“Crown takes its obligations as an employer seriously and self-reported to the Fair Work Ombudsman in 2020 following a comprehensive payroll review,“

explained Crown in a statement

Crown said in a statement that it takes its position as an employer seriously which is why it self-reported the underpayment to the Ombudsman after an extensive review of its payroll operations. The company added that due to the uncovered error, it remains committed to improving and reviewing its payroll operations. Finally, Crown said that it will continue to invest in its workforce and improve its compliance.

The Company Collaborated with the Fair Work Ombudsman

Judging by the statement released by the FWO, so far, Crown has back-paid some 192 of its current and former employees it was able to track down. The back payment included a 10% extra which was added as a gratuity and interest.

Overall, Crown Melbourne back-paid some 102 workers a total of AU$567,000, in payments that varied between AU$22 and AU$66,714. On the other hand, Crown Perth back-paid AU$659,000 to 90 former and current workers with payments ranging between AU$5 and AU$5,192.

Eight former employees are yet to be back-paid by Crown. Under the recently signed Enforceable Undertaking, the company was given 180 days to find those employees and complete the back payments. Additionally, the EU requires Crown Perth and Crown Melbourne to make a “combined AU$350,000 contrition payment to the Commonwealth Consolidated Revenue Fund.”

“All employers need to invest the time and resources to ensure they are meeting all lawful entitlements.“

Sandra Parker, a representative of the Fair Work Ombudsman

Sandra Parker, a representative of the FWO, explained that Crown collaborated with the Ombudsman’s investigation and agreed to resolve the underpayments. She explained that the signed EU also requires the company to strengthen its controls and policies related to payroll, ensuring that all of its employees receive correct payment.

“These measures include commissioning, at its own cost, two independent annual audits to check its compliance with workplace laws,” she said. Finally, Parker said that all employers need to ensure that they meet the regulatory framework related to payments even if this requires investment and resources.