Lush pay blemish a warning to retailers
RETAILERS across the nation have been warned to make sure they’re paying staff properly after cosmetics business Lush admitted it owed 5000 staff as much as $2 million.
Lush Australia director Peta Granger said audits were ongoing and it was known staff had been underpaid since 2010 due to incorrect interpretations of the award.
Some employees are owed up to $10,000, with predominantly part-time workers affected.
The retailer, which employs about 700 people, says the primary issue was its reliance on manual pay processes.
Lush’s pay office had not paid overtime when parttime staff worked an extra day and was failing to pay extra when staff did not get a 12-hour break between shifts.
“We should have had far more respect for our people’s pay and upgraded our payroll infrastructure to keep up with the growth of our business,” Ms Granger said yesterday.
The National Retail Association said it was “absolutely likely” many more retailers were underpaying staff.
Chief executive Dominique Lamb said pay rates, terms of references and classifications in modern awards could change frequently.
“This is definitely the time to get it right,” she said.
Payroll education body the Australian Payroll Association said it was not surprised another major company had underpaid staff because the pay office was underqualified, uninformed and under-supervised.
“Employers need to take responsibility for their payroll departments – which they are not doing,” chief executive Tracy Angwin said.