[Australia] Woolworths fined $1.2 million for underpaying workers' long service leave

In Australia, Woolworths has been fined more than $1.2 million for underpaying hundreds of Victorian employees by at least $1 million in long service leave entitlements, ABC Business reports.

In a Melbourne court last month, Woolworths admitted an error in its payroll system, which went undetected for years, had led to it short-changing at least 1,227 Victorian employees up to $1.24 million.

The underpayments reportedly ranged from a few hundred dollars up to $12,000, they occurred over multiple years.

On April 26, Magistrate Nahrain Warda described the payroll error as a "systematic and widespread failure" by one of the nation's largest private employers.

"It is gross failure on their part for not ensuring that such errors don't exist and any irregularities are stamped out early," she said.

"It is expected that such a large corporation, that expands across all of Australia, would consequently have thorough payroll systems in place."

The court heard that the supermarket giant had updated its payroll system in 2014, but didn't undertake an audit until 2020 after "red flags" started emerging in 2019.

After the discrepancies were detected during the review, Woolworths self-reported the underpayment errors to Victoria's Wage Inspectorate.

Sentencing the group, Magistrate Warda said the large number of victims and amount of the underpayments were "significant aggravating features", however, she said that Woolworths had taken "proactive steps" to fix the payroll errors and had self-reported the underpayments.

Magistrate Warda reportedly fined the Woolworths Group $1,227,000 and its subsidiary Woolstar $36,000.

The company faced fines of $2.2 million had it not pleaded guilty and the court heard that Woolworths had faced a maximum penalty of more than $10 billion.

Woolworths has agreed to repay its workers what they are owed, plus interest.

Responding to the judgement, Commissioner of Wage Inspectorate Victoria, Robert Hortle, said Woolworths' miscalculation of long service leave meant staff had lost out on time, not just money.

"Underpayments were as much as $12,000 which, calculated using the minimum wage, is equivalent to over 500 hours or 67 days leave," Mr Hortle said.

"It's disappointing that Woolworths, with its significant resources, has underpaid staff to such an extent."

"Today's sentence should be a warning to businesses across the state, particularly big, well-resourced corporations there are significant penalties for breaking long service leave laws, and both the Wage Inspectorate and the court take underpayment of entitlements extremely seriously."

In 2023, Woolworths posted a full-year profit of $1.6 billion; an increase of 4.6 per cent.

Source: ABC Business

(Quotes via original reporting)

In Australia, Woolworths has been fined more than $1.2 million for underpaying hundreds of Victorian employees by at least $1 million in long service leave entitlements, ABC Business reports.

In a Melbourne court last month, Woolworths admitted an error in its payroll system, which went undetected for years, had led to it short-changing at least 1,227 Victorian employees up to $1.24 million.

The underpayments reportedly ranged from a few hundred dollars up to $12,000, they occurred over multiple years.

On April 26, Magistrate Nahrain Warda described the payroll error as a "systematic and widespread failure" by one of the nation's largest private employers.

"It is gross failure on their part for not ensuring that such errors don't exist and any irregularities are stamped out early," she said.

"It is expected that such a large corporation, that expands across all of Australia, would consequently have thorough payroll systems in place."

The court heard that the supermarket giant had updated its payroll system in 2014, but didn't undertake an audit until 2020 after "red flags" started emerging in 2019.

After the discrepancies were detected during the review, Woolworths self-reported the underpayment errors to Victoria's Wage Inspectorate.

Sentencing the group, Magistrate Warda said the large number of victims and amount of the underpayments were "significant aggravating features", however, she said that Woolworths had taken "proactive steps" to fix the payroll errors and had self-reported the underpayments.

Magistrate Warda reportedly fined the Woolworths Group $1,227,000 and its subsidiary Woolstar $36,000.

The company faced fines of $2.2 million had it not pleaded guilty and the court heard that Woolworths had faced a maximum penalty of more than $10 billion.

Woolworths has agreed to repay its workers what they are owed, plus interest.

Responding to the judgement, Commissioner of Wage Inspectorate Victoria, Robert Hortle, said Woolworths' miscalculation of long service leave meant staff had lost out on time, not just money.

"Underpayments were as much as $12,000 which, calculated using the minimum wage, is equivalent to over 500 hours or 67 days leave," Mr Hortle said.

"It's disappointing that Woolworths, with its significant resources, has underpaid staff to such an extent."

"Today's sentence should be a warning to businesses across the state, particularly big, well-resourced corporations there are significant penalties for breaking long service leave laws, and both the Wage Inspectorate and the court take underpayment of entitlements extremely seriously."

In 2023, Woolworths posted a full-year profit of $1.6 billion; an increase of 4.6 per cent.

Source: ABC Business

(Quotes via original reporting)