Woolies Fined $1.2 Million for Short-Changing Former Workers

Woolworths has been fined $1.2 million (US$800,000) after admitting it failed to pay out more than $1 million (US650,000) in leave entitlements to about 1200 Victorian workers.  The supermarket giant was facing a maximum penalty of more than $10 billion (US$6.55 billion), but Melbourne Magistrate Nahrain Warda on April 26 found the smaller fine to be suitable punishment. Woolworths self-reported its breaches to Victoria’s wage watchdog in February 2022 after it undertook a review of its payroll systems. It discovered some of its employees were not paid their long service leave entitlements after leaving the company due to discrepancies in payment calculations.  The Wage Inspectorate Victoria’s investigation found the underpayments happened on 3617 occasions between January 2020 and July 2022. ...