Minister: Errant firms need to pay up

Some companies face big back-pay bills, as employment law acknowledges complaints about unpaid work going back as far as six years.

The Employment Court last month ordered retailer Smiths City to pay staff who were forced to attend unpaid meetings before their shifts began.

Smiths City is conducting an audit to “identify where wages have been paid below the statutory minimum over the last six years”, a company spokesman said. It could not comment on how much it will pay out.

Following the decision, First Union released a survey which gathered complaints from close to 2000 retail workers who claimed they were not paid for work done outside normal hours, for tasks such as cashing up at the end of a shift or attending meetings.

Briscoes, Rebel Sport, The Warehouse, Countdown, Cotton On, Noel Leeming, Farmers, Kmart and Warehouse Stationery were the first companies whose employees complained. The union said it had received adequate responses from those retailers, which had agreed to investigate.

But it urged Harvey Norman, Whitcoulls, Max Fashions, Life Pharmacy, Jeans West, Hannahs, Spark and JB Hi-Fi — companies where it does not have members — to investigate to see if some employees were working for free.

The Herald approached those retailers for comment.

James Pascoe Group, the owner of Whitcoulls and Farmers, said it had no “substantiated claims” that employees were being paid incorrectly. Max Fashion, Life Pharmacy, Countdown, Hannahs and Spark also said they did not have outstanding wages payable for hours worked but not paid.

JB Hi-Fi said it had no comment. And after an audit, Briscoe Group found it had “failed” to correctly roster some staff required to cash up at the end of shifts.

“We believe this has affected a modest number of employees,” the retailer said last month. “This is our error and we are now in the process of rectifying it.”

Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway said companies which incorrectly paid staff should put things right.

“I think a lot of employers have known full well that they are not meeting their obligations to their workers and now that they have been caught out they need to rectify that as quickly as they can.”

The financial impact could be significant for some companies, he said. “Frankly, this is a situation they have got themselves into and they need to rectify it.”