WORKERS SAY SUPER UNPAID
Supermarket staff claim they are owed thousands:
FORMER staff at the Newtown and Hooper Centre IGA stores have come forward claiming their employer owes them thousands in unpaid superannuation.
The Chronicle has been contacted by eight former staff members who say they are owed super payments.
Jennifer Newman worked full-time for Bansal Group at its Newtown store from 2017-2020 and said she estimated she was owed about $17,000.
“(Bansal Group) paid my super for the first 12 months, but then my daughter looked in my super account and saw the payments had stopped,” she said.
Ms Newman made a complaint to the Australian Taxation Office, but a spokeswoman from the office would not confirm if it was auditing Bansal Group.
Marina Turner told a similar story about unpaid superannuation.
“Every week we had to check our pay slips to make sure we were paid properly,” she said.
“I only received one super payment in the two years that I worked for (Bansal Group).”
The Newtown IGA closed last week, which The Chronicle understands is due to a rental dispute.
The Hooper Centre store continues to operate.
The ATO spokeswoman said employers who failed to pay the correct amount of super were required to lodge a Superannuation Guarantee Charge statement and pay outstanding amounts including added interest and an administration fee.
Employers who fail to lodge a SGC statement face fines of up to 200 per cent of the value of the unpaid super.
Ms Newman called on the ATO to act.
“We only want what is rightfully ours,” she said.
Bansal Group has been contacted by The Chronicle multiple times for comment, but has not responded.