According to weeklytimesnow.com.au, several Yarra Valley strawberry growers have been caught incorrectly paying staff. Surprise visits by the Fair Work Ombudsman to six farms found two employers had underpaid 22 workers a total of about $6000 and four had contraventions for record-keeping and pay slips.
The Victorian audits follow last year’s farm visits in Caboolture, Queensland, which found more than 150 pickers and packers had been underpaid more than $134,000.
Most of the employees in Caboolture were foreign workers, but inspectors found all the Yarra Valley workers were Australian citizens.