19/10/2026
Underpayment: It’s Not Always Deliberate. It’s Always Costly.
The Fair Work Ombudsman announced last month that they have recovered $453 million for underpaid workers in 2025–26, one of their largest recovery results on record. Announcing the figures, Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth urged employers to find “compliance common ground”: to fix pay issues before they become Fair Work issues.
Because most underpayment isn’t deliberate. It’s an award interpretation nobody’s revisited. A roster that’s drifted from the timesheet. A classification that made sense five years ago and hasn’t been checked since. Small gaps that quietly compound, until they don’t.
Would your payroll hold up under scrutiny?
Do your award classifications reflect what your people actually do, today?
Could you show a regulator a self-audit process not just a payroll system?
If you hesitated on any of those, that’s the gap worth closing and it’s exactly where we help:
· Payroll and award compliance audits: Identifying at-risk classifications and pay rates before the Fair Work Ombudsman does.
· Rostering and timesheet reviews: Ensuring hours worked and employee entitlements are captured accurately.
· Contract and classification checks: Confirming employees are covered by the correct award or enterprise agreement.
· A regular self-audit process: Detecting and addressing issues internally, on your terms rather than the regulator’s.
· Support with voluntary disclosure and back-payments: Implementing an approach that the Fair Work Ombudsman has repeatedly indicated it views favourably.
Share this with a leader who would benefit from seeing it or contact us for a confidential chat about your compliance position before it’s a Fair Work matter.
📲 : 1800 547 223
📩 : [email protected]
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, “Fair Work Ombudsman recovers $453 million for workers, as Booth urges compliance common ground”, media release, 14 September 2026.