Earlier this month the Wage Inspectorate Victoria filed 1,000 criminal charges against Woolworths in a prosecution that alleges that more than $1 million in underpayments accrued due to breaches in the payment of Long Service Leave (LSL). While this case is still progressing through the courts there are some initial learnings that all operators should understand now.
The Wage Inspectorate Victoria, a body that enacts the States wage theft criminalisation laws, lodged the criminal charges with the Victorian Magistrates Court after Woolworths self identified potential areas of underpayment impacting around 1,200 former and current staff. After finding the issues Woolworths reported them to the Wage Inspectorate Victoria and made backpay to all impacted former and current employees, including superannuation. “We have apologised to affected team members and strengthened our payroll systems to address the long service leave issues we identified,” a Woolworths spokesperson outlined.
Wage Inspectorate Victoria Commissioner Robert Hortle said long service leave was a valued workplace entitlement. “Victorians expect businesses with significant payroll resources to get this stuff right,” he said.
The case will be in Melbourne’s Magistrates Court on 6 September 2023, but is not the first prosecution for LSL underpayments in Victoria, with Coles underpayment of $700,000 in LSL entitlements in 2021 joining the underpayments of Optus, CommSec and BankWest.
Learnings for all businesses
“Wage theft is unacceptable and there is no excuse for it. Unintentional oversights do happen due to the complexity of interacting entitlements legislation. Long Service Leave is one of those areas that is complicated, and demands careful attention by all businesses” explains ACAPMAs Elisha Radwanowski.
“LSL operates differently in all of the State jurisdictions and ensuring the nuances are properly provided for in each particular business system is vital to getting it right” continued Elisha.
“Businesses should not only be able to answer the key questions of when LSL applies and to who, but they also need to understand the answers ‘weird’ questions and ensure that their systems are ready to deal with those situation correctly when they come up. Questions like: How LSL interacts with public holidays?; What happens when an employee is on LSL gets sick?; How does changes to employment status impact LSL?; Can LSL be cashed out?; What happens when the business is sold?, all need to be understood and systemised” notes Elisha.
“Wages, performance management, recruitment, promotion and review are all daily business tasks. Long Service Leave on the other hand, is an occasional task due to the long lead time in the entitlements accrual. This infrequency is one of the reasons that LSL is a difficult area to get right, but it needs attention now, before staff apply for leave, or resign, so that when those actions occur the business is confident the employee is receiving their full and correct entitlements” concluded Elisha.
ACAPMAs Long Service Leave Guide is coming soon. ACAPMA Members will receive access to this detailed Guide in the coming weeks.
Here to Help
This article is general in nature and covers things to consider, implement and watch out for in your business. It is provided as general advice and you should seek further advice on your situation.
ACAPMA Employment Professionals are available to assist ACAPMA Members via employment@acapma.com.au. ACAPMA membership is affordable at only $860 inc GST per year for a single site and valuable with sites gaining access to ACAPMA Guides, Templates, Resources, HR advice support and representation as well as a raft of other benefits and discounts. Visit: https://acapma.com.au/membership/ to learn more or to apply for ACAPMA membership.
Elisha Radwanowski BCom(HRM & IR)
Executive Manager for Employment and Compliance
ACAPMA
