Unions ACT has welcomed a compliance blitz by Fair Work Australia on Canberra's restaurants.
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Inspectors from the Ombudsman's office will visit about 100 of the territory's eateries in coming months in a bid to improve compliance on staff wages and conditions.
The two-month program comes after a less-than-stellar year for the industry.
The Fair Work Ombudsman's Craig Bildstien said the territory's restaurants and cafes were the main sources of underpayment complaints to the Fair Work infoline.
It's a national trend, with the accommodation and hospitality industry generating the highest number of calls to the infoline last financial year.
Mr Bildstien said inspectors would check that employers were paying staff their full entitlements, including minimum pay rates and penalty rates, and were complying with record-keeping obligations.
Unions ACT secretary Kim Sattler said she was absolutely delighted by the crackdown. She said complaints by restaurant workers were very common and the union always forwarded them on to Fair Work Australia.
''It's what Fair Work Australia should be doing and they should be exercising due diligence in that area,'' Ms Sattler said.
''These people are working and doing the right thing and many are not being paid properly and treated fairly.''
She said many of the complaints received by the union were about 457 visas.
''They bring them over on 457 visas - but then they don't pay workers according to guidelines and rules.''
A similar blitz by Fair Work Australia recovered $384,857 in back pay for 224 ACT workers last financial year.
Of the 312 complaints finalised in the ACT, 44 per cent were resolved voluntarily by the employer without the need for a formal investigation. Nationally, the Fair Work Ombudsman recouped $26.7 million for 17,360 underpaid employees in 2010-11.
Fair Work inspectors have the right under the Fair Work Act to inspect records that an employer is required to maintain.