A senate inquiry report is calling for new laws to protect employees and says wage theft in Australia is ‘systemic, sustained and shameful’ and workers are often too scared to speak out in fear of repercussions, reports ABC News.  The senate committee, set up in 2019 to investigate the unlawful underpayment of employees, has made 19 recommendations to stop the practice. One key recommendation is for the federal government to change the Fair Work Act to outlaw wage theft. The legislation would apply to the theft of all employee renumeration, including loadings, penalty rates, overtime, leave, allowances and the superannuation guarantee. The senate committee said it found the current legislative and regulatory framework was inadequate for pursuing wage and superannuation theft. "Systemic wage theft is often a deliberate decision of businesses that participate in a race to the bottom to bring down wages and increase profit," the report said. The senate committee recommended increasing penalties for wage theft, and to make it illegal for bosses to pay staff under the minimum wage.

“Non-compliance with Australia's minimum employment laws has become pervasive, as well as 'endemic' in certain sectors, and [this] highlights the need for government action," the report said. The hospitality, retail, horticulture, franchise-heavy businesses and higher education were highlighted as some of the worst-offending sectors.