OTR class action winners become losers after law firm error

OTR class action winners have been left confused and angry after the law firm representing them cut expected payments from a $5.8 million settlement.

Workers who thought they were in for a big payday after winning a class action for underpayment of wages against service station giant OTR have been left disappointed after their expected payouts were drastically cut after an “error’’ by the law firm who represented them.

In August last year, about 2000 former and current OTR employees who signed up for the class action with Adero Law won a $5.8 million settlement against the fuel and convenience store chain for a variety of infringements that meant they had not received full entitlements.

On May 23, former OTR employee Tristan Brown received an email from Adero saying he would receive $4971.95 for underpayment stemming from his 10 months at OTR in 2015. However, later that same day, Mr Brown received another email from Adero saying “this amount was incorrect’’.

Workers involved in the OTR lawsuit will not get the big payouts expected due to an error made by the law firm representing them. Worker Tristan Brown is not to impressed. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

“We request you to kindly disregard the statement you received earlier today,’’ Adero said.

On Friday at 5pm, Mr Brown received another email, telling him: “We have calculated that you are entitled to receive a total sum of $332.55.’’

Mr Brown said he had been given no explanation for the change in payment but believed the first figure was an accurate reflection of what he was owed.

“I’m like, yeah, this isn’t right,’’ he said.

Adero Law said a “computer glitch’’ had caused the error and the company had moved as quickly as possible to rectify the problem by notifying people the same day.

The staff member said only about 8 per cent of the people within the class action group had received “grossly overstated’’ statements.

“The first statement was not what people were due at all, it was a result of an Excel function malfunctioning,’’ he said.

“People might be disappointed between the two settlement statements, but we always have and will continue to act in the best interest of our clients.’’

The class action, lodged on behalf of former employee Aaron Furnell against OTR’s then owner Shahin Enterprises, claimed employees performed unpaid work prior to and after rostered shifts, meal breaks were wrongly deducted, and incorrect rates were paid to trainees, among other claims.

Another class action participant, Cassandra, said her payment had been cut from $2476 to $165.

“You don’t expect a law firm that is handling a big law suit to get it so wrong,’’ she said.

When the claim was launched in 2020, it was initially claimed it could result in a $70 million payment to workers.

The ultimate $5.8 million settlement was described as “modest’’ by Federal Court Justice Natalie Charlesworth. Justice Charlesworth had earlier said it was “extraordinary’’ that Adero had pushed for the court to accept the $5.8 million settlement, in part, because it had run out of funds to run the trial.

Justice Charlesworth also capped Adero’s fees for the case at $1.5 million, after previously cutting the amount they could receive for other class action cases involving workers at Drakes and Romeos supermarkets.

Josh Peak, state secretary of the SDA retail workers’ union, was highly critical of the process.

“Class actions across the country over-promise and underdeliver and it’s time those law firms started taking their responsibilities to these workers seriously,’’ he said.