More staff claim underpayment

Andrew Mathieson
A COURT case involving former Moorabool Street convenience store operators allegedly owing hundreds of hours in unpaid wages has been adjourned to include more workers in the hearing.
But Unite, the fast food and retail union, claims the six former 7-Eleven employees who will front Melbourne Magistrates’ Court later in the year to recoup their losses are about half the workers with underpayment complaints against the operators.
The Fair Work Ombudsman is taking legal action against owners Hao ‘Eddie’ Chen and Xue Jing, of Toorak.
Lawyers have lodged documents alleging that between 2005 and 2009 four Geelong convenience workers were underpaid a total of $85,408, including $40,583 for one worker alone.
But the Ombudsman asked the court for an adjournment on Wednesday to include a further two men to the case.
“They said evidence had come to light of more exploitation,” Unite secretary Anthony Main said.
He alleged that the Fair Work Ombudsman was aware several more former 7-Eleven employees had complained.
“There is 12 or 13 blokes down there that have worked in that Moorabool Street store that have come to the Workplace Ombudsman with various degrees of evidence,” Mr Main said.
The Ombudsman claimed the men were paid flat rates of between $9 and $11.50 per hour and Mr Chen had entered false information into the 7-Eleven payroll system.
The Ombudsman has alleged the operators listed the workers’ pay rates at double what they were paid and recorded half the number of hours to make it appear the employees were paid correctly.
Penalty rates were allegedly dumped for weekend, night and public holiday work, workers were not paid annual leave entitlements and some were required to undertake unpaid training, the Ombudsman alleged.
The court has ordered mediation between the two parties for August before returning for a directions’ hearing the next month.
Defence lawyers for Mr Chan and Mr Jing are arguing the former central Geelong store owners should have to pay just costs if found guilty.
But the Ombudsman’s office is seeking further penalties.
Mr Main said the union was concerned the case could drag on for years.
One Indian worker’s visa expires in October. Many of the workers are international students trying to pay their way through Deakin University.
“It is quite frustrating because these guys made the complaint in December, 2008,” Mr Main said.
“By the time they get paid we’ll be looking at a time closer to December, 2010.”