Veg Out – a supermarket based in Victor Harbor- has paid $50,000 to settle an underpayment claim brought by the SDA union on behalf of their member Paul Baillie.
Between 2016-2020, Veg Out failed to pay full-time employee, Paul Baillie, the correct rate of pay for work on:
- Weekdays after 6pm (25% penalty rate)
- Saturdays (25% penalty rate)
- Sundays (50% penalty rate)
- Public holidays (125% penalty rate)
Under the General Retail Award, all workers must be paid penalty rates working on weekday evenings, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, please see Appendix A for a full summary of the penalty rates.
In addition to this, Veg Out also failed to pay the correct loading of 17.5% on all periods of annual leave, as outlined in the Retail Award.
What has occurred at Veg Out is a blatant example of systemic wage theft and represents contraventions of workers’ rights under the Fair Work Act and the General Retail Industry Award.
These contraventions have seen him shortchanged thousands in pay over the course of his employment at Veg Out, severely reducing this take-home pay.
As part of this dispute, the SDA pursued civil penalties against Veg Out as a deterrence measure, with the Company agreeing to pay for the imposition of these penalties in the settlement.
The State of Wage Theft in Australia
Wage theft continues to run rampant across retail and many other industries in Australia.
In 2022-2023, the Fair Work Ombudsman recovered over $509 million in unpaid wages and entitlements for over 250,000 workers.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, estimates and research suggest that Australian workers are losing out on $1 billion in pay and entitlements each year.
With interest rates and cost of living increases continuing to hurt workers, our wage theft laws are in dire need of an overhaul.
The SDA has been pursuing this case since 2020 and it should not take three years to resolve a clear-cut underpayment case like this.
Pursuing an underpayment claim is a time-consuming and costly process and more must be done to deter employers from deliberately underpaying for workers, such as introducing criminal penalties.
Quotes Attributable to SDA Secretary Josh Peak:
“Underpaying workers and not paying penalty rates isn’t a business model, it’s a crime.”
“Wage theft of this scale can’t be put down to an issue within the payroll department, it shows a complete lack of understanding and care for our industrial instruments.”
“Every cent counts right now and it’s already hard enough for workers to make ends meet without their employer deliberately exploiting them.”
“Too many employers are getting away with deliberately underpaying workers and not having to pay the consequences.”
“To deter this and compel employers to do the right thing, introducing national and state-based wage theft laws is now a matter of urgency.”
“Ignorance of the law is no excuse – employers need to get their act together.”