Supermarket giant Coles is being sued for allegedly underpaying thousands of workers by more than $ 115 million.
The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) has initiated a federal court case against Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd claiming that 7,812 employees were underpaid between 1 January 2017 and 31 March 2020.
Most of the employees, who were allegedly short-changed, ran a department or function in a Coles supermarket, such as a bakery, customer service, delicatessens, dry goods, fresh produce, meat and night filling.
The alleged underpayment of these salaried executives ranged from small amounts to $ 471,647.
45 of them were underpaid more than $ 100,000.
Most of the alleged underpayments relate to overtime rights under the 2010 General Retail Industry Award.
The FWO claims that Coles’ salaried managers had generally been contract employees and on-call duty to work 40 hours a week, but often worked several hours, with salaried executives being alleged to have worked on average about an hour on top of their shift list per week. change between October 2017 and March 2020.
Fines for weekends and holidays, allowances and other rights were allegedly also underpaid.
It is further alleged that Coles violated the record keeping laws under the Fair Work Act by failing to keep proper records, including some records regarding overtime worked by employees.
The affected workers were across all states and territories in regional and metropolitan areas.
“Coles’ remedial program has significantly underestimated the amount owed to employees and that there is still more than $ 108 million outstanding,” the ombudsman claimed.
Coles Group Limited told the FWO and Australian Securities Exchange in 2020 that it was reviewing the salaries of price-covered, salaried employees in their liquor and supermarket businesses.
Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said underpayments due to inadequate annual salaries to employees covered by awards have become a persistent problem among companies of all sizes across different industries.
“Companies that pay annual wages cannot take a ‘set-and-forget’ approach to paying their workers. Employers must ensure that wages paid are sufficient to cover all legal minimum entitlements for the hours their employees work. actually working and the work they are actually doing, ”Ms Parker said.
Ms Parker said the FWO made it a priority to ensure that large employers who reported underpayments corrected them correctly.
“This lawsuit against Coles should serve as a warning to all employers that they could face serious consequences if they do not prioritize compliance with the law in the workplace,” she said.
FWO is seeking sanctions against Coles for several alleged violations of workplace laws, in addition to a court order requiring the company to correct the total outstanding underpayments plus interest and pension.
The company faces fines of up to $ 63,000 per year. violation.
A court hearing in Sydney is not yet scheduled.
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