Staff take Travel Money Oz to Fair Work in underpayment dispute

Staff take Travel Money Oz to Fair Work in underpayment dispute

Staff from Flight Centre Group subsidiary, Travel Money Oz, have lodged a dispute with the Fair Work Commission over claims of underpayment.

It comes just one week after the ABC published claims from past and present Flight Centre staff about excessive working hours and “low and confusing” methods of paying staff.

According to the ABC, the currency exchange business pays staff much the same as Flight Centre, with a low base retainer rate plus commission. Staff involved in the dispute claim it is difficult to earn the minimum Award wage at some stores.

“At some stores that’s fine, you will hit the minimum Award requirement. But in a lot of quieter stores you’ll get nowhere near it,” Former Travel Money Oz employee Todd Johnson told the ABC.

Johnson said staff who don’t make minimum Award get a top-up payment, just like Flight Centre employees, but not until the end of the financial year.

The Finance Sector Union, who lodged the dispute on behalf of Travel Money Oz staff, accused the company of wage theft.

“Travel Money Oz is requiring its employees to effectively do unpaid overtime. That’s not on in modern Australia,” said national assistant secretary of the FSU, Nathan Rees told the ABC. 

Johnson also told the ABC the currency exchange business has similar price mark up issues to the ones described by Flight Centre staff.

“The exchange rate is what we would use to make money out of customers,” he said.

“The mark-up on our currency on some of them [customers] is crazy. It’s much higher than other companies and … if you’d walked 20 metres down the road you would have saved yourself hundreds of dollars, in some cases.”

A company spokesperson for Travel Money Oz has rejected the claims around both staff pay and markups.

“Travel Money [Oz employees] are paid at the Award level and receive commission payments on top of this,” the spokesperson told the ABC.

The spokesperson said the claims about markups were “not the case” and “illogical”.

“If prices are uncompetitive, customers simply won’t buy the product and no commission or revenue will be earned,” the spokesperson said.


Do you have something to say about this? Get in touch with Travel Weekly Editor Ali Coulton at alexandra@travelweekly.com.au

Latest News

  • Destinations
  • News

APT Launches 2025 Asia Adventures

APT has launched its Asia Adventures for 2025, including new luxury holidays in India, Sri Lanka and Japan. Five new tours lead guests to the highlights of India, including a seven-night cruise along the rarely travelled Lower Ganges aboard the Ganges Voyager. Further south, Sri Lanka’s greatest destinations are revealed on a new 15-day Land […]

  • Cruise
  • Luxury
  • News

Seabourn announces Western Kimberley Traditional Owners as Godparents of Seabourn Pursuit

Seabourn has named Western Kimberley Traditional Owners, the Wunambal Gaambera, as Godparents of the ultra-luxury purpose-built Seabourn Pursuit. It is the first cruise line to appoint Traditional Owners as godparents of a ship. Seabourn Pursuit embarks on its inaugural season in the Kimberley region this June. The naming ceremony will take place on Seabourn Pursuit’s […]

  • Luxury

Malolo Island Resort opens brand new Spa

Fiji’s Malolo Island has added another string to its bow – opening its $1.3 million day spa on Thursday, 18th April 2024. (Lead Image: matriarch Rosie Whitton with spa staff) Located at the edge of the resort’s luscious patch of tropical rainforest, the new “Leilani’s Spa” adds another level of elevated experiences to Malolo’s already […]