Supermarket giant Woolworths admits to underpaying 5,700 workers across Australia by as much as $300MILLION
- Woolworths admitted to underpaying thousands of workers for several years
- The supermarket giant failed to pay 5,700 of its salaried workers
- Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci said they had let staff down
Woolworths has admitted to underpaying thousands of workers for several years.
The supermarket giant failed to pay 5,700 of its salaried workers in compliance with the General Retail Industry Award up to as much as $300million.
Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci made the announcement on Wednesday, admitting they had let staff down.
Woolworths has admitted to underpaying thousands of workers for several years
‘As a business we pride ourselves on putting our team first, and in this case we have let them down,’ he said.
‘The highest priority for Woolworths Group right now is to address this issue, and to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.’
The major error was only discovered when the company reviewed its workers’ salaries ahead of its recent enterprise bargaining agreement being implemented.
The review, which was launched in February with the help of PwC, raised issues between salaried staff and those who were on the new agreement.
Annual salaries for store team members are set to cover ordinary working hours and reasonable overtime.
However, team members are entitled to be paid the higher of their contractual salary entitlements, or what they otherwise would have earned for actual hours worked under the GRIA.
The review has found the number of hours worked, and when they were worked, were not adequately factored into the individual salary settings for some salaried store team members.
Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci made the announcement on Wednesday, admitting they had let staff down
Woolworths said it would fully rectifying the payments.
The company estimates the issue dates back to 2010, when the modern award was implemented. It could cost between $200 million and $300 million before tax.
Woolworths Group is now reviewing its entire workforce, including Big W and Endeavour Drinks.
An update will be provided at the Group’s Half Year 2020 results in February.
The matter has been referred to the Fair Work Ombudsman.