GLARING UNDERPAYMENTS
SUNGLASS Hut will back-pay $2.3 million to employees after underpaying 620 staff at stores across the country, including at Geelong.
Luxottica Retail Australia Pty Ltd, trading as Sunglass Hut, has entered into a courtenforceable undertaking with the Fair Work Ombudsman after self-disclosing that it underpaid 620 current and exemployees.
Sunglass Hut is based at Myer at Westfield, Geelong.
Between 2010 and 2016, the company failed to agree in writing with its part-time workers on a regular pattern of working hours and days, in breach of the General Retail Industry Award. It therefore failed to pay overtime rates for work performed outside regular hours and as a result, Sunglass Hut underpaid part-time retail workers a total of $2,294,496 in overtime wages.
Individual underpayments ranged from $4 up to $42,912.
To date, Sunglass Hut has back-paid $1,485,590 to 457 staff, and must back-pay the outstanding $815,391 in unpaid overtime wages.
The company also agreed to make a $50,000 “contrition payment” to charity.
Underpayments happened at 253 Sunglass Hut stores in every state and territory.
ACTU secretary Sally McManus said underpayment and wage theft was now a business model for many employers.
“Sunglass Hut ripped off its workers by not paying overtime and entitlements for six years. It knew about it and did nothing,” Ms McManus said.
“Again, big business is getting away with a minor ‘contrition payment’ for long-term rip-offs of workers.
“We shouldn’t have to wait for six years for big business to come clean.”