West Gate Tunnel subcontractor admits it has been underpaying staff wages
Employees working for a company on the West Gate Tunnel have been missing out on thousands of dollars in allowances and wages dating back to 2018.
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A subcontractor working on the West Gate Tunnel has been underpaying staff, with employees missing out on thousands of dollars in allowances and wages.
In a document seen by the Herald Sun, the company has admitted to paying workers at a wage rate 2 per cent below what they were entitled.
Up to 30 staff are believed to have been underpaid amid concerns other employees have been affected by the mistake. In some cases, the business followed a different enterprise agreement to what staff were on.
Site, crib and meal allowances may also be missing from pay slips and the company is expected to start responding to the issue. The problem dates back to late 2018 and thousands of dollars are expected to be paid back.
Most of the work that was underpaid was related to roadworks associated with the West Gate Tunnel.
A major part of the project involves widening the West Gate Freeway from eight to 12 lanes and creating the road connections that will direct cars to a second river crossing.
A source close to the works said issues were raised after employees cross-checked their weekly pay with months of timesheets. “It was very obvious once you looked at the actual wages,” he said.
“Annual pay increases were never rolled over while workers in specialist roles were never paid for specialist rates.”
The company has identified the problem and vowed to start calculating payments for those affected.
The CPB and John Holland joint venture tasked with building the project declined to comment when contacted.
It comes as work is still under way to find a storage site for soil contaminated with PFAS that sparked delays on the project.
A pair of massive tunnel boring machines at Yarraville are waiting to be switched on once the issue is dealt with.
But Bacchus Marsh and Wyndham Vale residents have launched protests against any proposal to bring the spoil to their suburb.
Treasurer Tim Pallas this week warned the government was losing patience as it waits for Transurban to find a solution. A West Gate Tunnel Project spokesperson said all subcontractors were expected to pay their workers appropriately and, if an issue was identified, every effort should be made to fix it quickly.
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