The new owners of Pizza Hut Australia says it is taking the Fair Work Ombudsman's findings, that some of its franchisees are underpaying delivery drivers, seriously.
The ombudsman has found 24 of 26 franchisee audits to be in breach of their legal obligations under workplace laws.
Seven of the 24 had classified their drivers as independent contractors rather than employees, with more than $12,000 in underpayments owed to workers.
The ombudsman found two franchises in Sydney and one in Mango Hill, Queensland, paid their drivers between $5.70 and $8 on a per-delivery basis and all three failed to issue pay slips.
A total of $6,300 in fines have been issued and the ombudsman is also considering potential litigation against one franchisee.
Pizza Pan Group, which became the master franchisee of Pizza Hut Australia in September, issued a statement of Friday saying it is working with all its franchisees to improve workplace standards.
Chief executive Lisa Ransom, a former McDonalds executive, said the group takes its responsibilities as the new franchisor very seriously.
She said the ombudsman's report, completed in 2015 and released on Friday, audited 26 out of more than 270 stores and identified three franchisees with workplace breaches regarding driver pay.
"One of these, Romaro Holdings, is no longer a franchisee and Pizza Hut has taken over management of the store," she said.
"Since acquiring the business we have worked directly and proactively with all franchisees and the Fair Work Ombudsman and engaged the services of experts in the area of industrial awards."
She said the company was also working with franchisees to ensure all the appropriate tools are in place for them to calculate rates of pay, and facilitate access to the Fair Work Ombudsman online training tools.
Ombudsman Natalie James said 32 per cent of the 170 workers looked at as part of the audit were under the age of 24 who are likely to be unaware of their rights.
Ms James said many franchisees were new to business and had asked around about the going rate, rather than checking what the law was.
She said she hoped Pizza Hut will take some action and sign up to Fair Work's compliance partnership, as 7-Eleven has done, to ensure vulnerable workers are being paid correctly.
