[Australia] Another $25m added to Coles’ unpaid wages bill

In Australia, supermarket chain Coles announced that the cost of its employee underpayment review has leapt up by another $25 million, 9News reports.

After initially admitting to underpaying staff in 2021 Coles incurred $13 million in remediation costs and took a provision of $12 million, amounting to a total of $25 million.

The new announcement reportedly leaves the total bill for the supermarket giant's missing wages sitting at a staggering $50 million.

In a message to its shareholders, Coles "unreservedly apologised" to affected employees.

"In February 2020, Coles announced it was conducting a review into the pay arrangements for all salaried team members covered by the General Retail Industry Award (GRIA) after identifying shortfalls," Coles said.

"Coles expressed its deep regret and apologised to affected team members.

"Subsequently, a class action and a separate proceeding by the Fair Work Ombudsman were commenced in the Federal Court in relation to the alleged underpayment of salaried managers in Coles' supermarkets and the interpretation of the GRIA and the Fair Work Act.

"Following further consideration of the issues as they have evolved, it intends to conduct a further remediation relating to the reconciliation of available records of the days and hours of work of salaried supermarket managers.

"Coles apologises unreservedly to affected team members... (and) will take an additional provision of $25 million in relation to this matter."

Woolworths, Coles’ largest competitor, has also been caught up in a similar wages scandal. And so has Wesfarmers, the parent company of Bunnings, Target and Kmart. 

In 2021, it was reportedly revealed that Coles' legal action primarily concerned employees responsible for managing a department or function within a Coles supermarket branch, such as bakery, customer service, delicatessen, dry goods, fresh produce, meat and night-fill.

The underpayments allegedly resulted from Coles paying employees annual salaries that were not enough to cover their minimum lawful entitlements, considering they generally performed significant amounts of overtime.

It is reportedly alleged that Coles' salaried managers were generally contracted and rostered to work 40 hours per week. However, on average they worked approximately one extra hour every shift between October 2017 and March 2020.

Source: 9News

(Quotes via original reporting)

In Australia, supermarket chain Coles announced that the cost of its employee underpayment review has leapt up by another $25 million, 9News reports.

After initially admitting to underpaying staff in 2021 Coles incurred $13 million in remediation costs and took a provision of $12 million, amounting to a total of $25 million.

The new announcement reportedly leaves the total bill for the supermarket giant's missing wages sitting at a staggering $50 million.

In a message to its shareholders, Coles "unreservedly apologised" to affected employees.

"In February 2020, Coles announced it was conducting a review into the pay arrangements for all salaried team members covered by the General Retail Industry Award (GRIA) after identifying shortfalls," Coles said.

"Coles expressed its deep regret and apologised to affected team members.

"Subsequently, a class action and a separate proceeding by the Fair Work Ombudsman were commenced in the Federal Court in relation to the alleged underpayment of salaried managers in Coles' supermarkets and the interpretation of the GRIA and the Fair Work Act.

"Following further consideration of the issues as they have evolved, it intends to conduct a further remediation relating to the reconciliation of available records of the days and hours of work of salaried supermarket managers.

"Coles apologises unreservedly to affected team members... (and) will take an additional provision of $25 million in relation to this matter."

Woolworths, Coles’ largest competitor, has also been caught up in a similar wages scandal. And so has Wesfarmers, the parent company of Bunnings, Target and Kmart. 

In 2021, it was reportedly revealed that Coles' legal action primarily concerned employees responsible for managing a department or function within a Coles supermarket branch, such as bakery, customer service, delicatessen, dry goods, fresh produce, meat and night-fill.

The underpayments allegedly resulted from Coles paying employees annual salaries that were not enough to cover their minimum lawful entitlements, considering they generally performed significant amounts of overtime.

It is reportedly alleged that Coles' salaried managers were generally contracted and rostered to work 40 hours per week. However, on average they worked approximately one extra hour every shift between October 2017 and March 2020.

Source: 9News

(Quotes via original reporting)