The Fair Work Ombudsman recovered $358 million for more than 249,000 underpaid workers in 2024-25, taking back-payments to workers to more than $2 billion across the last five years.
The latest recoveries came in a year when the Fair Work Ombudsman secured its highest ever penalties in court in a single legal action, contributing to record annual penalties. The operators of Sushi Bay outlets in NSW, Darwin and Canberra were ordered to pay $15.3 million for deliberately underpaying 163 workers more than $650,000.
The back-payments and court penalties figures are detailed in the workplace regulator's newly published Annual Report.
About 60 per cent of the 2024-25 recoveries came from large corporate sector employers. They collectively back-paid almost $213 million to nearly 118,000 underpaid employees. This sector, a continuing priority for the FWO, has had $1.11 billion back-paid to workers since July 2020.
Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said the regulator continues to achieve strong recoveries through its compliance and enforcement approach, in part due to its consistent commitment to addressing underpayments by large employers.
"The Fair Work Ombudsman has again helped deliver significant back-payments to workers across the nation, holding employers to account. An important element of this has been our clear expectations to large corporates that following workplace laws must be an ongoing priority - and this includes thoroughly fixing up past underpayments as well as improving governance and processes for the future," Ms Booth said.
"Our investigations and litigations have highlighted what is at stake if employers aren't serious about meeting all their workers' legal entitlements.
"We have also embedded a strategic compliance and enforcement approach that is tailored to the specific circumstances and context of each matter. We work with employers and workers to resolve workplace disputes, including encouraging voluntary and guided compliance whenever appropriate.
"The Fair Work Ombudsman is continuing to expand our collaboration with employer organisations and unions to educate employers and workers. Every participant in the workplace community has a role to play to ensure a laser focus on compliance with workplace laws."
The FWO secured a record total of $23.7 million in court penalties in 2024-25. In addition to Sushi Bay, major litigation outcomes included the FWO securing $5.1 million in penalties against Blue Sky Kids Land Pty Ltd, Q Fay Trading Pty Ltd and their company directors, related to migrant workers, who spoke limited English, being paid as little as $10 an hour. Protecting the workplace rights of visa holders remains a priority for the FWO.
The Fair Work Ombudsman filed 73 new litigations in 2024-25.
The FWO also entered into eight Enforceable Undertakings which are legally binding documents that set out a company's written commitment to address workplace contraventions and prevent future breaches. These included a total of $47 million back-paid to employees in the financial year, and safeguards against future compliance issues within these employers.
Of the eight, four were with universities (University of Melbourne, University of Sydney, La Trobe University, and Griffith University).
The workplace regulator also issued 1,220 Compliance Notices, recovering $8.2 million in unpaid wages for 3,438 workers. These notices, issued by Fair Work Inspectors, are a non-punitive way to require a person to fix a breach.
FWO helped recover $7.3 million for 2,120 workers through dispute assistance.
Fair Work Inspectors also handed out 743 Infringement Notices (fines) for record-keeping or pay slip breaches, with $838,000 in penalties paid.
Ms Booth said there was plenty more to do in the year to come. "We are continuing our intelligence-led, priority-driven work in 2025-26, targeting the high risk sectors of aged care services, agriculture, building and construction, disability support services, fast food, restaurants and cafés, large corporates, and universities.
"We retain our enduring priorities of assisting small business employers and employees, and vulnerable workers."
The FWO's Employer Advisory Service, which provides tailored written advice on pay and entitlements to small business employers, hit a milestone when it provided its 10,000th piece of written advice since it began four years ago. Across all industries, questions about award coverage were common.
Anonymous tip-offs surged upwards, with the 25,608 anonymous reports received in 2024-25 being up 50 per cent from the 17,021 reports received in 2023-24.
Young workers (aged 15-24), who can be vulnerable to workplace exploitation, were overrepresented in terms of anonymous reporting to the FWO. They represented 33 per cent of the anonymous reports, while apprentices and trainees accounted for nine per cent.
Ms Booth said, "We understand that young workers and others at the start of their careers can be scared to speak up when something doesn't seem right. We'd remind them they can't get in trouble for seeking our help - the law protects them. The same applies to migrant workers - they have the same workplace rights as anyone else in Australia, and protections exist for their visas. They are encouraged to contact us for free advice."
For employers, earlier this year the FWO released our Payroll Remediation Program Guide to support organisations - particularly large corporations - that have identified systemic and widespread underpayments. It provides a practical and structured framework to help employers address non-compliance, remediate the impact to affected workers, and implement meaningful cultural and operational change to prevent future breaches.
