Bedford Group pays disabled workers as little as $2, Royal Commission hears

Workers for an SA company that claimed JobKeeper and supplies giants like Bunnings have told a royal commission they cannot live on their rock-bottom wages.

A South Australian company pays some of its employees with a disability less than $2.50 an hour, which is a tiny fraction of the national minimum wage, a royal commission into the exploitation of people with a disability has heard.

Employees of Bedford Group, one of the state’s largest employers of people with a disability, are currently paid far less than people without a disability for similar tasks, with the “entry level” wage just $2.37 an hour, rising to a maximum of $23.85.

The national minimum wage is $20.33 an hour.

The royal commission also heard that employees were not provided adequate support to reach goals that would earn them a pay rise.

Bedford CEO Myron Mann. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

Two Bedford employees told the royal commission they had never received copies of their Individual Training Plan (ITP), which outlined the achievements required for a pay rise.

The employees also said meetings to discuss their ITPs were often cancelled without reason or booked at short notice, meaning they were not able to organise for a support person to be present.

Marc, who spoke under a pseudonym and has worked for Bedford for about 30 years, said his hourly rate had not increased since 2018.

“My income from Bedford would not be enough to live off if I didn’t have my (disability support) pension,” Marc told the royal commission.

Bedford employees work in a number of roles including manufacturing goods, landscaping, cleaning and hospitality.

Tay, who also appeared under a pseudonym, said employees at Bedford were given little support to explore other employment prospects.

“My wage is not enough to support myself,” Tay said.

Tay also said that employees with a disability were often compared to other staff members, who work for Bedford but do not have a disability, when completing a task which could earn them a pay rise.

“The (personnel officer) will time us both then compare our times and work out my wage based on how quickly I do the task,” Tay told the royal commission.

Bedford has 14 sites in South Australia. Its revenue in 2020/21 totalled about $94m.

Its biggest customer is Bunnings, with around $17m in sales coming from the hardware giant including flatpack furniture which Bedford manufactures.

Appearing before the royal commission via video link, Bedford CEO Myron Mann said no internal reviews had found evidence of underpayment.

Mr Mann said another internal review on increasing the wages of all Bedford employees to meet the minimum wage found it would result in a loss of $10m to $18m for the company.

Bedford received more than $20m through the JobKeeper scheme throughout the pandemic to cover lost revenue.