Ombudsman recovers lost wages

The Fair Work Ombudsman has defended its decision not to prosecute a Taiwanese company that underpaid foreign workers by more than $873,000.

Instead it sought an undertaking from Chia Tung Development Corp Lt that included paying back wages in full and donating $10,000 to the Philippine-Australian Community Services support organisation.

"We were able to recover this money within 60 days and get it back to the workers who were owed it," Deputy Ombudsman Michael Campbell told a Senate committee in Canberra on Tuesday, saying it would have taken about 18 months through the courts.