Crane hire operator in hot water over unpaid wages

A legal stoush has ended with a Gisborne crane hire business being ordered to backpay a former employee and pay a hefty fine. Read what happened.

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A crane hire company has been slapped with an $18,700 fine for its treatment of a former employee.

The Fair Work Ombudsman accused the Gisborne based company, Ted’s Crane Hire Pty Ltd, of failing to pay the employee’s entitlements after he left the company.

It took the business, which has since closed, to the Federal Circuit and Family Court and won its case.

Ombudsman Sandra Parker said Ted’s Crane Hire had ignored a compliance notice to back-pay a crane operator who worked there between April 2018 and August 2020.

Ms Parker said the case showed that business operators could be fined on top of having to pay back-wages to workers.

“Any employees with concerns about their pay or entitlements should contact us for free advice and assistance,” she said.

Ms Parker said the worker was not paid out his annual leave entitlements or given a termination payment, which was guaranteed under his workplace award.

Judge Catherine Symons said the decision should send a message to other employers.

She said there was a need to deter others “from simply ignoring a compliance notice, as (Ted’s Crane Hire) did in this case.”

“I consider that the silence and inaction maintained by (Ted’s Crane Hire) in its interactions with the FWO and in the context of this proceeding aggravates the seriousness of the contravention,” she said.