The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) is currently holding over $2.5 million in trust for around 10,000 people who were underpaid in a former job but cannot be located.
Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said compliance and enforcement activities regularly find underpayments of both current and former employees.
"If an employee is owed money but has left the business and can't be located, these entitlements are held in trust until we are able to find them," she said.
"We make extensive efforts to locate underpaid former employees, using internal investigation records, government public resources, social media and online tools."
Since 2010, the Fair Work Ombudsman has reunited almost $2 million in unclaimed wages with over 1,800 workers.
Source: Getty Images
One success story to already emerge from the agency's efforts to track down those owed money involved a former security guard who had died. The person's family was located and given over $21,000 in unpaid wages and entitlements.
"Many workers leave their jobs without even knowing that they were underpaid so all workers should check whether they are entitled to unclaimed wages," Ms Parker said.
Migrant workers are often the victims of underpayment
Despite migrant workers making up just six percent of the Australian workforce, 18 percent of workplace disputes received by the FWO involved employees who held visas, a spokesperson told SBS Italian.
Between 2016-17 migrant workers featured in 49 percent of the court cases commenced by the Fair Work Ombudsman.
Over the 2016-17 financial year alone, the FWO recovered almost $2 million in underpaid wages and entitlements for migrant and overseas workers and secured more than $4.4 million dollars in penalties handed down by the courts in matters involving visa holders, according to the FWO spokesperson.
"With an average entitlement around $250, anyone who thinks they may have been short-changed in a former job should visit the FWO website to make a claim," the spokesperson said.
An employee arranges apples at a Woolworths Ltd. supermarket in Sydney, Australia Source: Photographer: Brendon Thorne/Bloomberg
Are you entitled to unclaimed wages?
Visit the website to see if you are entitled to unclaimed wages or call the Fair Work Infoline on 13 13 94.
An interpreter service is available on 13 14 50. If you are eligible to make a claim, the FWO will provide free assistance with this process.
The Fair Work Ombudsman's Pay and Conditions Tool (PACT) is also available at www.fairwork.gov.au, which provides advice about pay, shift, leave and redundancy entitlements.
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