The Fair Work Ombudsman has secured $588,000 back pay for underpaid pizza delivery drivers around Australia as part of a collaborative initiative with Australia’s largest pizza chain, Domino’s. 
The back payments are a result of a Proactive Compliance Deed negotiated between the Fair Work Ombudsman and Domino’s Pizza Enterprises.
The Proactive Compliance Deed involved Domino’s and its franchisees agreeing to self audit the pay packets of more than 22,000 current and former adult delivery drivers at metropolitan and regional stores nationally, report the results to the Fair Work Ombudsman, and voluntarily rectify any underpayments identified.
Domino’s agreed to the self audit after the Fair Work Ombudsman received complaints from about 20 Domino’s workers, mostly delivery drivers.
Releasing the findings of the Proactive Compliance Deed today, Fair Work Ombudsman, Natalie James, said the self-audit found 1628 Domino’s adult delivery drivers – 7.3 per cent of those covered by the audits – had been underpaid a total of $588,160 between January, 2010 and December, 2011.
Underpayments were found at Domino’s stores in every state and territory, with more than $200,000 recovered for drivers at multiple stores in Melbourne.
The most common issue was underpayment of minimum hourly rates.
Most underpayments were at franchisee operated stores, however there were also underpayments at some stores operated by Domino’s Pizza Enterprises.
Domino’s and its franchisees have back paid the majority of workers, however more than $200,000 is being held in trust for workers who cannot be located.
James said Proactive Compliance Deeds were an important part of the Fair Work Ombudsman’s approach to ensuring compliance with workplace laws because they enabled the Agency to achieve results that were not possible through more cost-intensive, adversarial measures such as litigation.
McDonald’s, Spotless, Red Rooster, and cleaning company Asset Industries Australia have all entered into Pro-Active Compliance Deeds since 2011.
“In situations where medium and large employers identify the need for improvement in their workplace practices, Proactive Compliance Deeds enable us to work co-operatively with them to achieve great outcomes,” James said.
“By working with Domino’s we’ve been able to not only secure rectification of underpayment issues at hundreds of Domino’s stores across the country, but help Domino’s put systems in place to ensure they get things right in the future.”
James said as part of Domino’s commitment under the Deed to developing processes for ongoing compliance, the company has developed a new comprehensive workplace relations training program and information pack for franchisees, which are being used at franchisee induction seminars.
The training covers topics such as the National Employment Standards, record keeping, termination and redundancy, agreement making, dispute resolution, flexible working arrangements, bargaining and transfer of business.
Domino’s has also agreed to a co-operative approach to resolving future complaints received by the Fair Work Ombudsman, including promptly assessing complaints and rectifying any issues.
“Domino’s should be commended for its willingness to be proactive about improving its practices and ensuring the thousands of workers at its stores nationally are receiving their full lawful entitlements.
“This helps give current and future employees confidence that Domino’s is meeting its workplace obligations to staff particularly on wages and entitlements,” James said.
Other results of the Domino’s Pro-Active Compliance Deed include: Domino’s Pizza Enterprises established a central contact point for all workers with pay queries.
Calls were received from 50 workers, with back-payments being required in about a quarter of these cases. The pay packets of 297 instore Domino’s workers were also covered in the self-audit, with two workers found to have been underpaid a total of $338.
