Nine Entertainment’s efforts to reimburse underpaid staff hits a snag

The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance has received complaints about Nine Entertainment failing to correctly reimburse staff who were left out of pocket.

Nine’s managing director of publishing, James Chessell. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dylan Coker

Having waited several years to be reimbursed for underpaid wages, staff at Nine Entertainment have now lodged complaints that the promised backpay is inadequate.

The company has started its multistage process to pay back staff who did not receive correct salary amounts while working on major publications including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian Financial Review, the Brisbane Times and WAtoday, over a six-year period.

The media union, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, said in correspondence sent out to members earlier this month that issues had arisen in resolving the underpayment dispute.

“Early feedback from some MEAA members and union delegates suggests that the backpay for some was inadequate, and other employees might have been overlooked entirely,” the memo said.

The underpayments occurred after staff who worked six shifts during a seven-day week during the past six years were left underpaid.

The MEAA met with Nine management last week to discuss a range of issues including the staff underpayments.

A Nine spokesman said the company was working to resolve the matter and reimburse all affected staff, but noted there had been issues since repayments began being issued this month.

“From the beginning of this process we’ve said to all staff that if they think they are owed more backpay then we are happy to work with them to resolve any issue and capture all payments,” the spokesman said.

“We have set up a dedicated email channel and resources to deal with any query and that email is being monitored and actions taken to deal with any incoming cases that need further investigation.”

Earlier this year Nine’s managing director of publishing, James Chessell, wrote to staff in an email and said there would be a “review of all work performed across the Nine mastheads going back six years to identify if there were occasions where employees may have been entitled to overtime rates”.

“Any amounts owed will be back paid to employees and ex-employees,” he wrote in May.

It is understood that about 300 staff were reimbursed some money last week and the company is in the process of contacting former employees who are entitled to repayments to confirm their contact and banking details.

It is expected these reimbursements will be made in the new year.