Retail giant Super A-Mart will divide more than $1.3 million between almost 900 current and former staff after it was revealed they had been underpaid.
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The Fair Work Ombudsman launched an investigation after a former employee made a complaint.
The company, which operates more than 30 stores in five states including Queensland, voluntarily reimbursed the former employee and conducted a wider audit, as requested by the ombudsman, to find if other workers had been underpaid.
In a statement, the ombudsman reported Super A-Mart had underpaid 877 employees a total of $1.376 million between March 2006 and March 2010.
The problem arose because most Super A-Mart stores required staff to begin work earlier than their rostered shift to prepare for store opening and stay back after their shift had finished.
The company failed to pay staff for these extra hours.
Super A-Mart also failed to pay workers for attending staff meetings and information sessions outside their rostered shifts.
The retailer blamed a “breakdown in management communication” for the underpayment.
Fair Work Ombudsman Nicholas Wilson said employers could not direct staff to attend and start work outside their rostered hours without paying them for time worked.
"The case highlights that a small mistake affecting a large workforce over an extended period of time can result in a hefty bill for back-payment of wages," he said.
"And that it is not just small businesses without human resources or industrial relations experience that can run into trouble."
The Fair Work Ombudsman entered an "enforceable undertaking" with Super A-Mart - an alternative to launching litigation.
Super A-Mart would donate $120,000 to the Working Women's Centre in Queensland to assist the body to promote workplace relations compliance.
The company must take a range of other steps including reimbursing all underpaid staff within two months, writing a letter of apology to all affected employees and ensuring all store managers receive training in workplace relations.
In a statement from Super A-Mart, the company said it had co-operated at all times with the ombudsman.
"Super A-Mart expresses its sincere regret and apologises for any inconvenience its omission has caused and gives its commitment that this will not occur again," the company said.
"The company will write to all affected employees and conduct paid staff meetings to explain back payment arrangements.
"Back payments will be made to employees within two months, with payments to those who cannot be located to be held in trust by the Work Fair Ombudsman.
"Super A-Mart has instituted preventative measures to ensure that the contraventions do not occur in the future [including] ... workplace training for store managers, workplace relations compliance manuals and ongoing independent audits of compliance with Commonwealth workplace laws."
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