Shocking cases of wage theft and worker exploitation highlighted in parliamentary report

The case of an employer who made women wear bikinis and told them “you’re mine for three months” is among the shocking revelations of a report into wage theft in SA.

The case of an employer who required women to wear bikinis and told them “you’re mine for three months” has been highlighted in a shocking new report into South Australian wage theft.

The report, tabled in state parliament on Wednesday, found deliberate, dishonest and systemic underpayment of wages is rife across the state.

It also detailed damning situations of JobKeeper scheme misuse, including hospitality workers who were tasked with major renovations during a shutdown and workers who were directed to clean their employer’s home to make-up the difference between their wage and the $750 payment.

The committee also found a strong link between wage theft and slavery or slavery-like practice, and cited the evidence about women forced to wear bikinis as an example.

Dr Katherine Christ, a lecturer at UniSA, relayed an account of backpackers working in rural communities to extend their visa who were required by their employer to work in bikinis.

When a worker queried the requirement, she was told “Well, you’re mine for three months. If I say you’re going to work like that, you’re going to work like that”, the committee heard.

Dr Katherine Christ of UniSA relayed an account of backpackers who were required to work in bikinis.

“Many of the backpackers were being paid well below minimum wage and were sleeping in sheds,” the report says.

“Those who raised concerns were instructed that, if they did not comply, the employer would not sign off and their visa would not be extended.”

The committee listed 37 recommendations on federal and state legislation, policy and programs, including the establishment of a Wage Theft Act in South Australia.

“There is significant work to be done to improve current structures as well as the need for new and stricter state and federal legislation,” committee chairwoman MLC Irene Pnevmatikos said.

But in a dissenting report, Liberal MLC Heidi Girolamo said small business owners at times make genuine errors because of the “complexity of the national system” (comprising standards and awards), and the government was opposed to creating a criminal offence for mistaken underpayment.

She said she did not support the creation of a state Wage Theft Act for reasons including jurisdictional issues.

“It is appropriate that changes that will affect the federal industrial relations system be made by the Commonwealth parliament,” she said.

SA Unions secretary Dale Beasley welcomed the report and endorsed the recommendations, and called on the government to act on the findings.

Dale Beasley welcomed the wage theft report. Picture: The Advertiser/ Morgan Sette

The McKell Institute, a progressive think tank, also supported the recommendations, and said wage theft cost thousands of South Australian workers up to $500m a year.

“I urge Premier Steven Marshall to reconsider his government’s stubborn refusal to act on wage theft, and to endorse the report’s detailed plan to end wage theft once and for all in South Australia,” policy director Ed Cavanough said.