Drakes Supermarkets to defend class action alleged underpayment of staff in SA and QLD stores
South Australian retail giant Drakes Supermarkets says it will “vigorously defend” allegations it underpaid staff.
SA News
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South Australian family-owned supermarket chain Drakes will “vigorously” defend a potential $20m class action alleging it underpaid staff.
The company is the latest major SA retailer to face underpayment claims, with similar ongoing lawsuits filed against SA’s Romeo Retail Group and OTR, operated by the Shahin family.
Canberra-based law firm Adero has filed action in the Federal Court alleging Drakes staff were not paid allowances and entitlements owed from performing overtime and penalty work.
The firm claims employees had been paid for 38 hour weeks, were rostered to work 45 hours or more per week and worked in excess of rostered hours.
The statement of claim lodged with the Federal Court on Monday, October 26, also alleges:
STAFF had uniform costs deducted from their wages and;
DRAKES in 2017 directed staff not to record their hours on an electronic time recording system.
Adero Law in a statement said that it is “instructed” that Drakes Retail Group “harboured a culture where excessive hours were expected of all salaried staff, which flowed from the very top of the Drakes management.”.
“In particular, Adero is instructed that salaried employees were consistently rostered hours in excess of their contract terms and were then expected to work beyond those rostered hours,” Adero Law said.
Drakes director John-Paul Drake would not comment on the matter while it was before the court but said his company, which operates 63 stores in SA and Queensland employing more than 5500 staff, would be “vigorously defending” the allegations.
The lead plaintiff in the case is Craig Schonweiss who worked at Drakes’ stores at Hallett Cove and in Queensland for more than a decade.
As of Wednesday, 81 workers had registered interest in the claim but Adero Law considered up to 1000 current and former employees could be eligible for compensation.
“A conservative assessment of the level of underpayment across the class exceeds $20 million
over the claim period, not including any statutory penalties the Federal Court may be minded to impose,” the company said.
Eligible wage claims have a six-year statute of limitations, predating the lodging of legal action.
Adero Law’s Ashley Cutchies said the goal was that the matter did not proceed to a full court hearing.
He said Romeo’s Retail Group was yet to file a defence in the class action against the company.
