Australia’s workplace watchdog the Fair Work Ombudsman is taking action against auto, sports and leisure company the Super Retail Group Limited for alleged underpayments of approximately AUD 1.14 million (USD 809,514).

The Ombudsman said the investigation included underpayments to full time, part-time, and casual staff who were based in stores in all states and territories.

The Fair Work Ombudsman also said it is suing Super Retail Group Limited and its subsidiaries Super Cheap Auto Pty, Rebel Sports Ltd, SRG Leisure Retail Pty Ltd, and MacPac Retail Pty Ltd.

According to the Fair Work Ombudsman, employees were underpaid approximately AUD 1.14 million (USD 809,514) for work performed between January 2017 and March 2019.

The regulator alleges that most of the underpayments were the result of SRG Limited’s subsidiaries paying salaried employees’ annual salaries that failed to cover their minimum lawful entitlements, given they generally performed significant amounts of overtime work. The watchdog -also alleges that the methodology used by SRG Limited in its remediation program has resulted in only partial back-payment of the sample employees.

In its investigation, the Ombudsman took a sampling of 146 employees from all subsidiaries who were allegedly underpaid. The company was investigated after it was disclosed to the Ombudsman and the Australian Securities Exchange that widespread underpayments involving thousands of employees occurred.

The labour regulator said most of the underpayments were the result of failing to cover the minimum lawful entitlements of salaried employees who performed significant amounts of overtime.

In its lawsuit, the watchdog also alleged some breaches were in ‘serious contravention’ to the Fair Work Act, noting the company, which is one of Australi’s largest retailers, knew the contraventions were occurring or likely occurring since April 2017 but failed to take action until January 2018.

“This is also the first court action where the Fair Work Ombudsman has alleged breaches by a holding company for contraventions by its subsidiaries. Holding companies who allegedly knew or reasonably should have known of underpayments within their group will be held to account,” said Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker.

The alleged underpayments of individual sample employees ranged from small amounts to about 34,500 AUD (USD 24,507). The watchdog is seeking the maximum penalty of AUD 63,000 (USD 44,753) per breach for the alleged contraventions committed by SRG Limited and its four subsidiaries. They are also seeking maximum penalties of AUD 630,000 (USD 447,533) for the alleged serious contravention.