Fair Work prosecuting Deutsche Bank Place cleaning company Glad Group for allegedly underpaying workers
The Fair Work Ombudsman is prosecuting the Glad Group Pty Ltd, which holds cleaning contracts for more than 100 office buildings around the country, including Deutsche Bank Place on Phillip Street, Sydney.
It is alleged Glad Group underpaid 32 night-shift workers it employed to clean Deutsche Bank Place a total of $133,845 from October 2008 to August 2009.
The employees – who included international students, working holiday visa workers and recent immigrants – spoke little English. Six were under 21.
The employees generally worked four-hour shifts at night.
It is alleged the majority of the underpayments were the result of the Glad Group purporting to outsource employment of the cleaners for the fourth hour of their shifts to another company – LJ and LJ King – which paid them only $13 to $15 an hour, when they were entitled to more than $17 an hour.
However, it is alleged that because Glad Group continued to control and direct the employees for their whole shifts, it was the true employer and was responsible for paying the cleaners for all work performed.
It is alleged Glad Group was therefore ultimately responsible for underpaying the employees the minimum hourly rate, as well as overtime rates and toilet-cleaning allowances.
In prosecution documents lodged in court, the Fair Work Ombudsman alleged that Glad Group had admitted to underpaying the workers and had reimbursed all those employees it had been able to locate.
Fair Work inspectors discovered the alleged underpayments in 2009 when they audited the Glad Group during a campaign focusing on Sydney cleaning companies.
The Fair Work Ombudsman alleges Glad Group committed several breaches of workplace laws. The maximum potential penalty per breach is $33,000.
The case is listed for a hearing on May 9 in the Federal Magistrates Court in Sydney.
