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According to Woolworths, some employees were authorized to work up to 45 hours a week without being required to do overtime beyond that limit.
Woolworths has already compensated $300 million to managers who were not appropriately paid their entitlements. Source: AAP / Con Chronis
Coles argued managers had autonomy over their hours, and the estimates of working hours and days were overestimated by the Fair Work Ombudsman.
The woman whose wages were reduced for wearing Coles-branded clothing was entitled to receive a clothing and laundry allowance.
‘Unacceptably complex’
The case involving Coles concerned 42 managers, some working in several locations, from 2017 to 2020.
Coles did not have an effective overtime system for managers and had unreliable clocking records, as stated by justice Nye Perram. Source: AAP / Con Chronis
“Whilst I would not wish to [be] definitive about how litigation of this kind might be handled in the future, I am confident that they should not be handled the way these four cases were,” Perram said. “This should not be done again.”
A case management hearing will be held in October to address the next steps and compensation for the 27,700 affected employees.
