Melbourne retailer ordered by Fair Work Ombudsman to back-pay $500,000 in wages

A Melbourne fruit and vegetable retailer has been forced to backpay 265 workers over $500,000 in wages and benefits by the Fair Work Ombudsman after it was found the company did not accurately adhere to its required awards.

The operator of the stores, using the name Colonial Fruit Co. and Colonial Fresh Markets, has also agreed to enforceable undertakings that will lead to all employees being fully reimbursed.

Fair Work Ombudsman executive director Michael Campbell said in a statement the employees worked at major shopping centres including Doncaster, Chadstone, Forest Hill, Eastland and Malvern.

“Underpaid superannuation, payroll tax and workers’ compensation payments take the total amount owed by the employer to more than $544,200,” Campbell said

The biggest individual payment will be $12,697, according to the FWO.

The FWO found the company used a collective agreement that was not approved by the former Workplace Authority. It was found staff should have been paid under the Shop, Distributed and Allied Employees Association interim award for Victoria instead.

A number of enforceable undertakings have been introduced, which will require the company to do the following:

• Report within four weeks on all the systems and processes the company has put in place so it adheres to all workplace laws.
• Put an advertisement in Melbourne publications explaining the situation and detailing what it has done to fix the problems.
• Run paid staff meetings to explain what has happened to employees, with a Fair Work Ombudsman representative in attendance.
• Employ consultants in order to undertake an annual audit to give an overview of the company’s workplace compliance for the next three works.
• Report to the FWO every four months for a year to update it on its attempts to contact former employees who have been underpaid.

The FWO said the company directors acknowledged their liability and have expressed their “sincere regret”.

“I’m always concerned when we identify underpayment of this magnitude,” Campbell added, “but I’m confident with the systems we’ve got in place through the enforceable undertaking, the employer will be able to comply with their workplace rights and obligations into the future”.

The FWO has acted particularly harshly on backpay matters, ordering various companies to explain their actions to employees – last year it ordered Cotton On to put an official apology on its Facebook page after it was found workers were underpaid.