Digital Wage Failures Expose Distinct Legal Boundaries Among Underpayment, Enforcement Escalation, Corporate Attribution, and Criminal Culpability
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65310/kzcp5p72Kata Kunci:
digital wage underpayment, algorithmic management, wage-law enforcement, corporate attribution, criminal culpabilityAbstrak
Digital wage underpayment in technologically mediated workplaces presents a layered legal problem because payment outcomes may arise from interactions among scheduling systems, timekeeping tools, payroll rules, managerial practices, and organisational controls. This study examines how law should distinguish causal system failure, wage-law breach, enforcement escalation, corporate attribution, and criminal culpability within the Australian federal workplace framework, using hospitality as the principal sectoral context. Employing doctrinal legal research, interdisciplinary synthesis, and functional comparative analysis, the study evaluates wage entitlement, regulatory significance, organisational responsibility, and offence-specific fault. The findings show that the cause of a payment shortfall must remain separate from the legal question of whether remuneration due has remained unpaid. Stronger enforcement becomes more compelling when verified notice, effective control, remedial capacity, organisational response, and avoidable persistence converge. Corporate attribution requires independent examination of systems, policies, safeguards, audits, and organisational practices, while criminal liability further requires proof of applicable physical and fault elements. The framework preserves doctrinal boundaries while improving analytical precision in digitally managed workplaces where information, control, intervention, and corrective capacity are distributed across multiple actors and technological systems.
Unduhan
Referensi
Baldwin, R., & Black, J. (2008). Really responsive regulation. The Modern Law Review, 71(1), 59–94. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.2008.00681.x
Bant, E. (2023). Modelling corporate states of mind through systems intentionality. In E. Bant (Ed.), The culpable corporate mind (pp. 231–254). Hart Publishing. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781509952410.ch-011
Bant, E., & Faugno, R. (2024). Corporate culture and systems intentionality: Part of the regulator’s essential toolkit. Journal of Corporate Law Studies, 23(2), 345–374. https://doi.org/10.1080/14735970.2023.2292837
Bhat, P. I. (2020). Doctrinal legal research as a means of synthesizing facts, thoughts, and legal principles. In Idea and methods of legal research (pp. 143–168). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199493098.003.0005
Chircop, J., Tarsalewska, M., & Trzeciakiewicz, A. (2026). Government contracting and wage compliance. Corporate Governance: An International Review, 34(3), 682–705. https://doi.org/10.1111/corg.70035
Clibborn, S., & Hanna-Osborne, S. (2023). The employer perspective on wage law non-compliance: State of the field and a framework for new understanding. Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, 62(4), 411–438. https://doi.org/10.1111/irel.12333
Cole, M., Stuart, M., Hardy, K., & Spencer, D. (2024). Wage theft and the struggle over the working day in hospitality work: A typology of unpaid labour time. Work, Employment and Society, 38(1), 103–121. https://doi.org/10.1177/09500170221111719
Collins, P. M., & Atkinson, J. (2023). Worker voice and algorithmic management in post-Brexit Britain. Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, 29(1), 37–52. https://doi.org/10.1177/10242589221143068
Connelly, C. E. (2025). Predicting wage theft in organizations. Human Resource Management Review, 35(4), Article 101103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2025.101103
Cornford, A. (2022). Beyond fair labelling: Offence differentiation in criminal law. Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 42(4), 985–1011. https://doi.org/10.1093/ojls/gqac007
Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) (Austl.).
Davidov, G. (2016). A purposive approach to labour law. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198759034.001.0001
Duggan, J., Carbery, R., McDonnell, A., & Sherman, U. (2023). Algorithmic HRM control in the gig economy: The app-worker perspective. Human Resource Management, 62(6), 883–899. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.22168
Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (Austl.).
Galvin, D. J., Shepherd, H., Round, J., Barnes, J., & Fine, J. (2026). Powers and practices in labor standards enforcement. Regulation & Governance. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/rego.70126
Gaudio, G. (2026). Reconciling risk and workers’ rights: The EU’s risk-based approach to algorithmic management and its implications for labour law. European Labour Law Journal, 17(2), 162–183. https://doi.org/10.1177/20319525261434160
Green, B. (2022). The flaws of policies requiring human oversight of government algorithms. Computer Law & Security Review, 45, Article 105681. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clsr.2022.105681
Green, S. (2020). Wage theft as a legal concept. In A. Bogg, J. Collins, M. Freedland, & J. Herring (Eds.), Criminality at work (pp. 134–150). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198836995.003.0007
Horder, J. (2025). Corporate criminal liability under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. Legal Studies, 45(1), 133–148. https://doi.org/10.1017/lst.2024.46
Jarrahi, M. H., Newlands, G., Lee, M. K., Wolf, C. T., Kinder, E., & Sutherland, W. (2021). Algorithmic management in a work context. Big Data & Society, 8(2), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517211020332
Jianu, B., Ashton, M. T., & Lugosi, P. (2025). Integrating algorithmic management in hotels: Emerging challenges and opportunities for frontline managers. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 129, Article 104168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2025.104168
Jianu, B., Tussyadiah, I. P., & Miller, G. (2025). Humanising algorithmic management systems. Annals of Tourism Research, 115, Article 104021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2025.104021
Krzywdzinski, M., Schneiß, D., & Sperling, A. (2025). Between control and participation: The politics of algorithmic management. New Technology, Work and Employment, 40(1), 60–80. https://doi.org/10.1111/ntwe.12293
Li, J., Zheng, W., & Lin, Z. (2026). Predicting and planning: An intelligent system for demand-based hotel staff scheduling. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 133, Article 104474. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2025.104474
Mahy, P. (2016). The functional approach in comparative socio-legal research: Reflections based on a study of plural work regulation in Australia and Indonesia. International Journal of Law in Context, 12(4), 420–436. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1744552316000197
Meijerink, J., & Bondarouk, T. (2023). The duality of algorithmic management: Toward a research agenda on HRM algorithms, autonomy and value creation. Human Resource Management Review, 33(1), Article 100876. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2021.100876
Michaels, R. (2019). The functional method of comparative law. In M. Reimann & R. Zimmermann (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of comparative law (2nd ed., pp. 345–389). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198810230.013.11
Nielsen, V. L., & Parker, C. (2009). Testing responsive regulation in regulatory enforcement. Regulation & Governance, 3(4), 376–399. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-5991.2009.01064.x
Parent-Rocheleau, X., & Parker, S. K. (2022). Algorithms as work designers: How algorithmic management influences the design of jobs. Human Resource Management Review, 32(3), Article 100838. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2021.100838
Park, S., Yaduma, N., Lockwood, A. J., & Williams, A. M. (2016). Demand fluctuations, labour flexibility and productivity. Annals of Tourism Research, 59, 93–112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2016.04.006
Rosin, A., & Parviainen, H. (2025). Improving the transparency of algorithmic management in platform work: The role of the Platform Work Directive. European Labour Law Journal, 16(4), 472–493. https://doi.org/10.1177/20319525251375023
Theil, S. (2025). Carefully tailored: Doctrinal methods and empirical contributions. Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 45(4), 1047–1075. https://doi.org/10.1093/ojls/gqaf029
Tippett, E. C. (2018). How employers profit from digital wage theft under the FLSA. American Business Law Journal, 55(2), 315–401. https://doi.org/10.1111/ablj.12122
