Australia Criminalizes Wage Theft

The Australian Associated Press reports, "Bosses who deliberately underpay workers could face up to four years' jail and $1.1 million in fines under a new criminal offence of wage theft. The new offence will carry a maximum penalty of $5.5 million for companies but doesn't cover one-off underpayments, inadvertent mistakes or miscalculations.

It will apply to national system employers that deliberately underpay one or more workers, with people convicted of wage theft disqualified from managing companies for five years."