Super sham hits workers
Employees being short-changed
MORE than 135 Victorians a week claim they are being short-changed at work by bosses avoiding payment of millions of dollars meant to help them survive in old age.
It can be revealed new figures show complaints of missing superannuation have skyrocketed by 45 per cent nationwide in the past three years from more than 50,000 workers discovering they are missing their hard-earned money.
The popular Endota Spa brand is embroiled in the scandal after one of the company’s franchises fell over.
Angry beauty therapists have claimed they believed their superannuation was paid after the then Surf Coast-based Endota franchisee Francine Forde provided them pay slips noting super contributions.
News Corp has seen documents showing the financial inconsistencies between what workers were told they were paid and what arrived in their superannuation accounts, with the issues dating back to 2010 at two Torquay day spas run by Ms Forde.
Emails to staff from Ms Forde acknowledge the failure to pay, blaming “just human error” and promising to speak to an accountant to remedy the problem.
Beauty therapist Lindsay Wallace said victims felt let down by Ms Forde, the company and the government complaints system.
“Super is our livelihood,” Ms Wallace said. “Maybe I’ll be able to retire when I’m 83. I have only $12,000 in superannuation — how long do you think I could live off that?”
A 34-year-old single mum, Ms Wallace said she feared for her future and worried how she would support herself and her two children — one of whom has high needs.
Another victim said the experience “broke us”.
Another, owed nearly $10,000, said: “I’ll never see this money, there’s nothing that any of us can do, other than tell the truth about Fran Forde.”
Dozens of women have been affected at Torquay.
The Australian Taxation Office investigated Ms Forde and Endota Spa head office kicked her out of the business, which remains under their control. Liquidators took control of her company Southern Spas and Ms Forde later declared bankruptcy.
Still, workers have not been fully compensated and they fear they will never be paid the balance or interest.
In a blow to the victims, Ms Forde is now the face of another Surf Coast women’s “wellness” brand — this time with her husband listed as the company director.
“After running a mediumsize business for seven years, I decided to kick that to the kerb and instead do something I love,” the website for Kubaku reads. The failed businesswoman recently told a parliamentary inquiry, and was later quoted in Fairfax media, that Endota’s lack of support for franchisees had sent her broke.
But claims about her treatment of workers have cast doubt on that sob story.
“We want justice — she should be held accountable, not running a business in the same town,” Ms Wallace said.
The rise in claims of super underpayment has prompted a government crackdown, with new laws before federal parliament set to see delinquent bosses jailed. Under existing laws only seven bosses have been successfully prosecuted.
Endota Spa head office said it was improving its systems to ensure its 1000 therapists were protected.