WTW Pay Comply

A crackdown on wage theft

Ensuring your employees are paid the correct wages is not only an incredibly complex task but wage theft and salary compliance is also the focus of a crackdown by federal and state governments.

Over a two-year period, the Fair Work Ombudsman recovered over $1 billion dollars in unpaid wages and entitlements for workers. Wage theft legislation in Queensland and Victoria has criminalised underpayments, and recent amendments have introduced criminal offences into the Fair Work Act for pay, entitlement and record-keeping contraventions involving intentional conduct.

Businesses of all sizes can face potential legal action, severe penalties, and reputational risk if they underpay workers. Employers will have until 1 January 2025 to prepare and strengthen their payroll due diligence and governance arrangements.

So how can you ensure you’re doing the right thing, especially where your workforce is covered by a host of industrial agreements and modern awards? Is your due diligence and governance of this vital area up to scratch? Is wage compliance a priority to avoid leaving employees out of pocket for salary and superannuation – and to demonstrate integrity and fairness?

WTW Pay Comply can help

WTW’s Pay Comply can give you peace of mind. Our expert team will guide you through the complex regulatory landscape, and assess and audit your payroll compliance, including your superannuation obligations.

We partner with the right stakeholders across your organisation to reduce the burden on your payroll team, and provide independent, expert guidance to help you avoid time-consuming and expensive underpayment issues.

Our Framework

1. 01

   Strategic Review

   • Review your employment arrangements to identify errors and areas of risk, including classification mapping and industrial instrument coverage
   • Assess application and compliance with enterprise agreement and modern award provisions, such as overtime, penalty rates and allowances
   • Ensure annualised salary arrangements are set up correctly, to avoid underpayment of minimum entitlements

2. 02

   Analysis

   • Prepare large and complex payroll data for analysis and reconciliation
   • Conduct in-depth and accurate calculations for all entitlements efficiently, including superannuation and long service leave
   • Verify internal audit processes and calculations with the assistance of expert advisors

3. 03

   Remediation & Corrective Actions

   • Support payroll system configuration to address identified issues
   • Implement systematic payroll compliance checks and reviews
   • Identify areas of risk in operations, processes and practices
   • Plan and implement remediation programs, including employee and regulator communication strategy
   • Ensure your organisation can demonstrate due diligence, compliance and corrective actions

Legal Advice and Support

WTW Pay Comply can refer clients requiring legal advice to our preferred advisers with expertise in employment and industrial relations, to ensure seamless program management and cost-effectiveness. We can also work with in-house or external legal teams as required.

Now is the time to review your payroll compliance strategy, to ensure you are prepared.

WTW Pay Comply combines industrial relations and data analytics expertise to assess and mitigate risks associated with payroll compliance and help you avoid wage underpayment. We help businesses identify areas of actual or potential non-compliance and implement solutions giving you a holistic and thorough evaluation of your organisation.