Staff to get $500,000 in back pay
The Age
Tuesday March 15, 2011
A FRUIT and vegetable retailer with stores in Malvern and Chadstone has been forced to give former and current staff more than $500,000 in back pay.The retailer, which trades under the names Colonial Fruit Company and Colonial Fresh Markets, was forced to make the payments after an investigation by the Fair Work Ombudsman.The Ombudsman found the business had "inadvertently" underpaid more than $464,000 over two years and once workers' compensation and superannuation were included the amount owed was more than $544,200. The underpaid workers were employed at stores in Malvern, Forest Hill, Doncaster and Chadstone. One worker was underpaid $12,697. The company has written a letter of apology to staff and promised it will not happen again.The employer must advertise the underpayment in the Melbourne press, and the steps it is taking to fix it. It must run paid meetings to explain the situation to affected employees and report to the ombudsman every four months for the next year on its attempts to contact former workers who were affected.
© 2011 The Age