Commonwealth Bank staff in $45m claim for missed tea breaks

Australia’s biggest bank and the Finance Sector Union are locked in a battle over an alleged failure to give staff tea breaks.

Commonwealth Banks has come under fresh fire from the Finance Sector Union. Picture: Hollie Adams

Commonwealth Bank has been accused of owing its staff $45m in back pay for failing to provide 10-minute tea breaks.

The Finance Sector Union says an estimated 3000 staff across Australia are entitled to an average $15,000 each in back pay, and it is considering legal action against the nation’s biggest bank.

CBA says it is waiting to see evidence to support the claim.

The FSU claim comes in the middle of a vote on a new enterprise agreement affecting 33,000 staff. That agreement delivers pay increases of up to 3.25 per cent this year and 3 per cent next year. The bank and the union have been unable to agree on issues such as pay, rostered days off and superannuation.

FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano said retail bank workers were “at breaking point because of staff shortages and the effects of being massively overworked”.

Finance Sector Union national secretary Julia Angrisano. Picture: Hollie Adams

“This is a claim about tea breaks but the real issue here is that every bank branch is so short-staffed, everyone is run off their feet, without even a moment to have a cuppa,” she said.

Ms Angrisano said the bank had not honoured a 2016 enterprise agreement that included up to two paid 10-minute tea breaks daily to give staff a short rest from continuous face-to-face service.

“The bank should conduct an audit of its pay and attendance records going back six years,” she said.

“No-one should have to work so hard that they can’t even take a few minutes for a cup of tea and coffee to recover during a shift.”

Ms Angrisano said the FSU was considering filing a claim against the bank in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia if it did not reimburse staff.

She said CBA staff from across Australia had complained to the union about the issue.

CommBank staff are currently voting on a new enterprise agreement. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

A Commonwealth Bank spokesman said the FSU had made “an ambit claim and we haven’t seen any evidence to support it”.

“If someone makes a legitimate claim, we’ll investigate it,” he said.

In the past few years CBA has reimbursed tens of thousands of staff members more than $50 million after an internal review in 2018 found some workers had received incorrect entitlements.

Other banks including NAB and Westpac have also handed back millions of dollars to underpaid staff.

“Wage theft is rife across all parts of the economy and the finance sector is not immune,” Ms Angrisano said.

Originally published as Commonwealth Bank staff in $45m claim for missed tea breaks