A former employee of a Victorian dairy farm has received a lump sum of A$20,000 (US$10,800) from his former employer, after it emerged that he had been underpaid for two years.


An annual salary had been agreed, but the worker regularly put in over 60 hours a week, it emerged.


The Australian Workers Union (AWU) is now warning farmers not to exploit labourers. AWU’s Sam Beechey told ABC Rural News: “I guess it serves as a warning to all employers that they had better be more diligent in their wages and time records in what they keep and in what they pay their employees because we will investigate on behalf of our members every claim that comes to us.”


“It’s one thing to get cheap labour but to exploit labour is another thing.”

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