OFFICIAL
Dear Mr Sweeney

I confirm receipt of your email correspondence dated 15 April 2021, containing your Freedom of Information (FOI) request for documents held by the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO).

The reference number for your request is: IA-1408.

The FWO FOI team have commenced processing your request and will be in contact in due course.

Please direct any further correspondence about this request via email to [FWO request email], quoting reference IA-1408.

Sincerely
Tracy

Tracy La | Information Governance Officer, Information Governance

Corporate Services
FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN

-----Original Message-----
From: Phillip Sweeney <[FOI #7246 email]>
Sent: Thursday, 15 April 2021 8:59 AM
To: FWO - FOI Requests <[email address]>
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Whistleblower Disclosures of Employer Underpayments

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CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organisation. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognise the sender and know the content is safe.
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Dear Fair Work Ombudsman,

The Fair Work Ombudsman receives complaints from employees who believe that they have been underpaid as well as receiving notification from employers that they have identified underpayments to their employees.

The document or documents I seek relate to any policy documents (or similar) in the possession of the Fair Work Ombudsman as to how to deal with whistleblower disclosures from whistleblowers who may not be current or former employees who are "blowing the whistle" on underpayments by particular employers.

Yours faithfully,

Phillip Sweeney

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Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #7246 email]

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This request has been made by an individual using Right to Know. This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. More information on how Right to Know works can be found at:
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Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will be delayed.

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

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This email is sent by the Fair Work Ombudsman (ABN 43 884 188 232).
The information contained in this email message and any attachments may be confidential information and may also be the subject of client legal - legal professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient, any use, interference with, disclosure or copying of this material is unauthorised and prohibited.
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If you have received this email in error, please immediately:
(1) notify the Fair Work Ombudsman by calling 13 13 94;
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(5) do not disclose or use any of the information contained in the message or the attachments.

This notice should not be removed from this email message.
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hide quoted sections

OFFICIAL

Dear Mr Sweeney

I refer to your email correspondence dated 15 April 2021 containing your
Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

Can you please confirm that you seek information produced and made
publicly available by the FWO to employees of private businesses who wish
to confidentially disclose underpayments by their employer?

We would appreciate a response by close of business Monday 26 April 2021.

Sincerely,

Tracy

Tracy La | Information Governance Officer, Information Governance

Corporate Services

Fair Work Ombudsman

This email is sent by the Fair Work Ombudsman (ABN 43 884 188 232).
The information contained in this email message and any attachments may be
confidential information and may also be the subject of client legal -
legal professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient, any
use, interference with, disclosure or copying of this material is
unauthorised and prohibited.
This email and any attachments are also subject to copyright. No part of
them may be reproduced, adapted or transmitted without the written
permission of the copyright owner.

If you have received this email in error, please immediately:
(1) notify the Fair Work Ombudsman by calling 13 13 94;
(2) notify the sender by return email;
(3) delete the message and any attachments from your system;
(4) destroy any printed copy; and
(5) do not disclose or use any of the information contained in the message
or the attachments.

This notice should not be removed from this email message.
There is no warranty that this email is error or virus free.
The Fair Work Ombudsman respects your privacy.
Our privacy policy can be accessed from our web site www.fairwork.gov.au.

Please consider the environment before printing this email.

OFFICIAL

Dear Mr Sweeney

I refer to your FOI request made to the FWO on 15 April 2021 for the
following -

“any policy documents (or similar) in the possession of the Fair Work
Ombudsman as to how to deal with whistleblower disclosures from
whistleblowers

who may not be current or former employees who are "blowing the whistle"
on underpayments by particular employers”

On 22 April 2021 we sent an email requesting your assistance to clarify
the scope of your FOI request to enable us to commence a search for
documents.

To date, no response to our request for clarification has been received.
Until your request is clear, processing cannot commence.

We again seek your advice as to whether you are requesting information
produced and made publicly available by the FWO to employees of private
businesses who wish to confidentially disclose underpayments by their
employer, or whether you are seeking documents produced that show the
process by which the FWO deals with advice of underpayments by an
employer.

Once we understand the scope of your request correctly, a search for
documents can be undertaken with the appropriate business area of the FWO
and a decision made regarding access.

Please respond by close of business on Wednesday 19 May 2021.  If we do
not receive a response from you by that date we will assume you do not
wish to proceed with the request and the file will be closed.

Kind regards,

Tracy

Tracy La | Information Governance Officer, Information Governance

Corporate Services

Fair Work Ombudsman

This email is sent by the Fair Work Ombudsman (ABN 43 884 188 232).
The information contained in this email message and any attachments may be
confidential information and may also be the subject of client legal -
legal professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient, any
use, interference with, disclosure or copying of this material is
unauthorised and prohibited.
This email and any attachments are also subject to copyright. No part of
them may be reproduced, adapted or transmitted without the written
permission of the copyright owner.

If you have received this email in error, please immediately:
(1) notify the Fair Work Ombudsman by calling 13 13 94;
(2) notify the sender by return email;
(3) delete the message and any attachments from your system;
(4) destroy any printed copy; and
(5) do not disclose or use any of the information contained in the message
or the attachments.

This notice should not be removed from this email message.
There is no warranty that this email is error or virus free.
The Fair Work Ombudsman respects your privacy.
Our privacy policy can be accessed from our web site www.fairwork.gov.au.

Please consider the environment before printing this email.

OFFICIAL

Dear Mr Sweeney

I refer to your Freedom of Information (FOI) request received by the Fair
Work Ombudsman on 15 April 2021.

Scope of Request

“The document or documents I seek relate to any policy documents (or
similar) in the possession of the Fair Work Ombudsman as to how to deal
with whistleblower disclosures from

whistleblowers who may not be current or former employees who are "blowing
the whistle" on underpayments by particular employers.”

Processing your request

The FWO wrote to you on 22 April 2021 and again on 13 May 2021 advising
that it was unclear from the wording of your request what documents you
required. We sought your assistance to clarify the scope of your request
to enable us to identify documents and commence processing your request.

We invited you to provide further information and asked you to respond by
19 May 2021.

As no response to our requests for assistance has been received to date,
we now assume that you no longer wish to proceed with your request and the
file will now be closed.

If you have any queries please respond to this email by at
[1][FWO request email], quoting reference number IA-1408.

Yours sincerely

Tracy

Tracy La | Information Governance Officer, Information Governance

Corporate Services

Fair Work Ombudsman

This email is sent by the Fair Work Ombudsman (ABN 43 884 188 232).
The information contained in this email message and any attachments may be
confidential information and may also be the subject of client legal -
legal professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient, any
use, interference with, disclosure or copying of this material is
unauthorised and prohibited.
This email and any attachments are also subject to copyright. No part of
them may be reproduced, adapted or transmitted without the written
permission of the copyright owner.

If you have received this email in error, please immediately:
(1) notify the Fair Work Ombudsman by calling 13 13 94;
(2) notify the sender by return email;
(3) delete the message and any attachments from your system;
(4) destroy any printed copy; and
(5) do not disclose or use any of the information contained in the message
or the attachments.

This notice should not be removed from this email message.
There is no warranty that this email is error or virus free.
The Fair Work Ombudsman respects your privacy.
Our privacy policy can be accessed from our web site www.fairwork.gov.au.

Please consider the environment before printing this email.

References

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