Wesfarmers brands to fork out $4.8m in back pay

Wesfarmers Industrial and Safety businesses including Blackwoods and Bullivants must back-pay more than $4.8 million after underpaying more than 3400 employees nationally. The group has also signed an Enforceable Undertaking (EU) with the Fair Work Ombudsman, covering items including a $100,000 contrition payment to the Commonwealth’s Consolidated Revenue Fund. J. Blackwood & Son, Protector Alsafe, Bullivants, The Workwear Group, Coregas, Blacksmith Jacks and Lawvale are the seven WIS entities involved. Underpaid employees worked in locations including Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong, Mackay, Canberra, Perth and Darwin. They worked in a range of roles including retail and customer service; manufacturing; clothing and textiles; engineering; management; laboratory technology; transport and logistics. WIS reported underpayment issues by the entities and former subsidiaries Greencap and Trimevac to the Fair Work Ombudsman in October 2019 after finding anomalies while implementing a new payroll system across the corporate group. A broader review found that because of payroll system errors adopted by WIS in the course of its acquisition of various employing entities in 2013 and 2014 which it failed to correct, more than 3,400 current and former full-time, part-time and casual employees had been underpaid between January 2010 and June 2020. Entitlements underpaid included base and overtime penalty rates; annual leave and casual loadings; laundry, first aid and vehicle allowance or kilometre reimbursements; and termination payments. Individual underpayments were up to $38,362 and the average underpayment was $1,392. Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said an EU was appropriate as the WIS entities had demonstrated a firm commitment to rectifying all underpayments and changing their practices. “Under the Enforceable Undertaking, the WIS entities have committed to implementing stringent measures to improve compliance and protect the rights of its workforce," she said. "These measures include commissioning, at the companies’ own cost, independent annual audits to check their compliance with workplace laws during the next two years,” Ms Parker said. “This matter demonstrates how important it is for employers to identify and fix non-compliance in their processes, including the continued use of out-of-date and unsupported software systems and the incorrect interpretation and creation of pay rules. “Businesses who fail to invest the time and resources to ensure they are meeting all lawful entitlements risk facing large-scale back-payment bills.” The WIS companies must display notices that apologise for the contraventions across their Facebook pages, public websites and intranets. They must ensure all relevant staff have the right training regarding workplace entitlements; run a hotline for employees; and give free taxation and financial advisory services to affected workers.

Wesfarmers brands to fork out $4.8m in back pay

Industry Queensland

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