Aged Care Provider Ordered to Back Pay $1.39m to Mostly Migrant Staff

A prominent aged care provider has been ordered to back pay over $1.3 million to 335 employees, following an investigation by the Fair Work Ombudsman. The underpayments, which occurred between July 2018 and March 2025, affected mostly migrant staff, including nurses, allied health professionals, and care managers.

The aged care provider, a registered charity operating in the ACT and NSW, self-reported its non-compliance in July 2024. The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) found that the underpayments were a result of sub-standard 'individual flexibility arrangements' (IFAs), which were alternative working terms made to suit both the employee and employer.

According to the FWO, 313 of these agreements were found to be "over-reliant" on non-monetary benefits, leaving employees disadvantaged. The agreements allowed staff to work up to 90 ordinary hours in a fortnight, despite the maximum being 76 hours, and up to 12 ordinary hours in a day, when the maximum was 10 hours.

"Migrants and visa holders are a priority for the FWO, as they can be vulnerable in the workplace including due to lack of awareness of laws or concerns about speaking up," Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said. "Importantly, they have the same rights as any other employees in Australia and have protections for their visa if they call out for help."

The FWO also revealed that staff had only eight hours between rostered shifts, despite the minimum requirement for a break being 10 hours. Additionally, 22 residential care employees not on IFAs had not been paid penalty rates for early afternoon shifts due to an "incorrect payroll system configuration".

One employee is owed $38,760, while the average back payment for each employee was $4,165. Most of the affected staff were based in the ACT, and included nurses, allied health professionals, and care managers, along with staff in food, catering staff, cleaning, laundry, and planning and admin staff.

For three quarters of those affected, English was their second language, and 10 per cent were visa holders. The FWO said it is currently auditing 30 providers for compliance with the Fair Work Act.

The aged care provider said it has completed remediation for all affected employees it could contact, with funds for those it couldn't contact transferred to the FWO. "Goodwin acted promptly to understand their full extent and support affected employees," a spokesperson said. "Goodwin sincerely regrets these errors and apologises to all affected current and former employees."