New laws that expose bosses to big fines if they pay workers’ wages ‘in-kind’ or make unauthorised deductions from their pay packets have taken effect in Victoria this week.

The Victorian Workers’ Wages Protection Act requires employees’ wages to be paid in money. This bans all in-kind payments such as paying retail employees with discounted clothes or free DVD hire!

Employers must obtain the written authorisation of the employee, or their parent or guardian if they are under 18, before making any deduction. Under no circumstances can the boss deduct more than the amount specified in the authorisation.

An authorisation is of no effect if it is obtained by coercion (ie bullying) or if it delivers a financial benefit to the employer. A deduction can be deemed unreasonable if it results in the employee being paid less than the minimum wage.

It can also be deemed unreasonable if it is intended to make up for the cost of replacing clothing, equipment or other property lost or destroyed by the worker.

An employer that breaches the Act can be ordered to pay a penalty of up to $10,000 and to reimburse the employee. A court can order all or part of the penalty be paid to a union or other organisation.

This new legislation comes after some petrol station operators (including 7-Eleven) had been deducting money from employees’ pay packets when customers drove off without paying for fuel. Another high profile example was the case where UNITE exposed Video Dogs for paying workers in DVD hire.

If you are being paid ‘in-kind’ contact UNITE today on 93281555.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 at 9:57 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.