Union releases list of employers allegedly making staff work overtime for free

Wednesday, 16 May 2018

About 1500 retail workers have now laid complaints about their employers' pay practices with First Union this week.

The union on Wednesday released a list of the companies alleged to force staff to work unpaid. It has called on the companies to investigate the complaints.  

The list included supermarkets Countdown and Pak 'n Save, large retailers Kmart, The Warehouse, Noel Leeming, Farmers, Whitcoulls, Cotton On Group, Briscoes Group and Harvey Norman.

First Union retail secretary Tali Williams said the complaints were over unpaid preparation meetings before stores opened and being forced to stay after stores closed to 'cash up' the counter and clean.

**READ MORE:

* Smiths City case triggers hundreds of complaints on unpaid work

* Smiths City's unpaid meetings puts businesses on notice 

* Smiths City ordered to pay workers over unpaid morning meetings**

Workers had not spoken out about the issue before because working overtime without pay was normalised in retail, she said.

A spokesman for Briscoe Group, owner of Briscoes, Rebel Sport and Living & Giving, said some of its staff were not being paid to cash up at the end of their shifts. Those staff would be back paid, he said. 

'This is our error and we are now in the process of rectifying it.'

A Christchurch Cotton On worker, who did not want to give her name, said unpaid overtime was common and expected.

'Everyone feels they have to do it, or else they'll be singled out and seen as the one letting the team down,' she said. 'It's really, really unfair.'

The store she worked at closed at 6pm, or 9pm on a late shopping night. Staff were rostered to stay for half an hour after closing to cash up and clean, she said.

The worker said it was routine for workers to spend 10 or 20 minutes beyond closing time to clean the store to management's standard.

'It's so ordinary to stay late that people actually ask permission to leave on time. It's ridiculous.'

If the store was not up to standard, workers would be 'called out' by management in a Facebook group chat the next morning.

'It's all based on guilt, and it shouldn't be that way.'

Cotton On Group has not responded to a request for comment. 

First Union launched a confidential survey on Monday to determine the scale of under-paid work, after Smiths City was ordered by the Employment Court to backpay workers who were unpaid for 15 minute pre-work meetings for more than eight years. 

A Warehouse Group spokeswoman said it did not know of any complaints. 'Our team members are paid for all hours that they are asked to work across our brands.'

A Countdown spokeswoman said it was unaware of any complaints laid against it, but staff were paid for overtime worked.

Wages paid were rounded to the nearest quarter-hour worked, she said.

Pak 'n Save owner Foodstuffs spokeswoman Antoinette Laird said staff were paid from the time they clocked in and clocked out of work.

Staff were required to clock in before pre-work meetings and clock out after registers were cashed up for the evening, so they would be paid for that time, she said. 

Farmers and Whitcoulls are owned by the James Pascoe Group.

James Pascoe director Kevin Turner said the company's policy required all staff to be paid for meetings. 'We have no substantiated claims that this policy has not been adhered to,' he said.

'It has been and still is today company policy to pay for all work undertaken [including] meetings and cash up.'

Harvey Norman is owned by ASX-listed Harvey Norman Holdings. Its New Zealand stores are run by franchisees.

A Harvey Norman worker, who did not want to give his name, said staff at the South Island store he worked at had been expected to attend unpaid morning meetings for the last several years.

Originally these were for about half an hour before the store opened at 9am, but were reduced to 15 minutes, he claimed. The worker said staff that did not attend were yelled at.

'They were told 'you're letting the team down'. It was very clear those meetings were not optional.'

Staff also closed the store without being paid, he claimed. However, the electrical department worker said in the last six months to a year, his department started being paid for the meetings and after-hours work.

'It's a lot better now.'

Harvey Norman has been approached for comment.

Kmart owner ASX-listed Wesfarmers has been contacted for comment. Former prime minister Bill English was appointed to its board this month. 

First Retail Group managing director Chris Wilkinson said the practice of not paying sales staff for time spent in store when it was closed was an 'archaic practice'. 

It was the fault of executives that had run retail companies for decades, and competitive store managers who 'are probably pushing the boundaries' and 'bending the rules,' he said. 

Wilkinson said Cotton On had grown exponentially. The company's heart was in the right place, but it had thousands of stores so illegal pay practices were likely to seep in, he said.

Wilkinson said retail was a competitive business but it was constantly looking at itself to improve. 

The Labour Inspectorate has received a 15 per cent increase in complaints to its call centre since the Smiths City decision came out last Friday.

The inspectorate planned to take the complaints to industry associations and large employers to get them to fix their practices and, where appropriate, pay arrears.

'Any employer who has been systematically exploiting their workers in this was should prepare for a knock on the door from the Inspectorate,' national manager Stu Lumsden said.