Fair Work to re-audit Queensland real estate businesses after more than half were found lacking last year
Fair Work Ombudsman inspectors will audit 125 Queensland real estate businesses over the next three months to check that they have lodged written agreements for their staff with the Queensland Property Industry Registry (QPIR).
Last year, the Fair Work Ombudsman audited 156 real estate agents throughout Queensland and found that 81 had failed to lodge agreements.
Inspectors will now revisit those employers who had failed to lodge agreements as well as randomly selecting additional businesses among the state’s 2,000 businesses for scrutiny.
The follow-up campaign will focus on real estate agents, business and hotel brokers, strata and community title management businesses, stock and station agents, buyers’ agencies and real estate valuation agents.
Fair Work inspectors will audit employers throughout Brisbane and the Sunshine and Gold coasts.
It will also visit regional areas including Ipswich, Loganholme, Cairns, Mount Isa, Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton, Hervey Bay, Gladstone, Gympie, Toowoomba, Gatton, Stanthorpe, Charters Towers, Kilcoy, Maryborough, Roma and Longreach.
It is a requirement under the Real Estate Industry Award 2010 for employers to lodge a written agreement with the QPIR for all staff classified as property/strata management or property sales employees.
The agreements must state how the employees will be paid – commission-only, part-commission or as per the rates listed in the Modern Award.
Fair Work Ombudsman Nicholas Wilson says employers who fail to lodge agreements are at greater risk of underpaying their employees.
“We are conducting this follow-up campaign because we have identified that many of the underpayment complaints we receive from real estate industry workers in Queensland are against employers who have not lodged pay agreements with the QPIR,” Wilson says.
