Australian Property News

Fair Work Ombudsman targets Queensland real estate agents

Posted on Thursday, November 24 2011 at 11:14 AM

More than half of the real estate agents targeted by the Fair Work Ombudsman have failed to lodge staff pay agreements.

The Fair Work Ombudsman checked the books of 156 employers earlier this year and found 81 employers (52 per cent) failed to lodge written pay agreements for their staff with the Queensland Property Industry Registry (QPIR).

The agreement must state how the employee will be paid – commission-only, part-commission or as per the rates listed in the award – and detail steps that will be taken to ensure the award entitlements aren’t undercut.

The highest rate of non-compliance was on the Gold Coast, where 20 of 31 employers audited failed to lodge agreements.

More than half of Brisbane employers audited were non-compliant (36 out of 65) and six out of 21 employers audited on the Sunshine Coast were non-compliant.

Other areas with at least one non-compliant employer included Loganholme, Townsville, Cairns, Rockhampton, Gladstone, Mackay, Gatton, Gympie and Stanthorpe.

Fair Work Ombudsman Nicholas Wilson says employers who fail to lodge agreements are at greater risk of underpaying their employees.

“We conducted this campaign because we identified that many of the underpayment complaints we receive from real estate industry workers in Queensland were against employers who had lodged pay agreements with the QPIR,” Wilson says.

In all cases, employers agreed to promptly lodge agreements after Fair Work inspectors educated the businesses about their obligations, he said.