Sexyland has been accused of underpaying staff by the SDA as it lodges complaint with the Employee Tribunal

Adult retailer Sexyland faces a number of serious allegations as the powerful “Shoppies” union steps in to protect workers.

Adult entertainment store Sexyland is alleged to have underpaid its South Australian employees. Picture: Aaron Burton

Adult entertainment store Sexyland has come under fire after it’s alleged the company underpaid its South Australian employees.

The Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) lodged an underpayment claim with the SA Employment Tribunal in March 2025, stating it had uncovered widespread underpayments of employees exceeding $50,000.

SDA secretary Josh Peak criticised the Melbourne based company, owned by Angelo Abela, saying the alleged underpayments were “reckless” and “inexcusable”.

“Workers at Sexyland have not been paid correctly for working late at night, working at higher classifications or for the hours they’ve worked,” he said of the allegations.

“These underpayments were not a one-off occurrence, the SDA has been raising these issues for several months with Sexyland.”

In addition to compensating workers for the underpayment, the SDA is also pursuing penalties against the company of nearly $7 million, – claiming the breaches were both regular and repeated.

Sexyland operates three stores across South Australia in Morphett Vale, Modbury and St Mary’s.

SDA secretary Josh Peak blasted Sexyland saying the underpayment of staff was “reckless” and “inexcusable”. Picture: Brett Hartwig

A worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they had encountered a number of “minor” issues around payments and rostering over the years.

A spokeswoman for Sexyland said the company had taken steps to fix the issue and took its obligations towards staff seriously.

“The business has taken proactive steps to notify affected staff and rectify identified underpayments,” she said.

“It continues to audit its wage records in compliance with the law.

“We will continue to work with our employees to ensure our workforce is appropriately compensated for their valued contributions to the business.”

Under the Retail Award, full-time and part-time workers must be paid overtime for all work outside the span of ordinary hours – 7am-11pm Monday to Saturday and 9am-11pm on Sunday.

The SDA alleges Sexyland routinely rostered and required workers to work hours,

beyond 11pm, including past 12:15am and did not pay them the applicable overtime rates which are 150 per cent to 200 per cent of the ordinary rate.

Part time workers were also affected as they were not paid overtime rates when working hours in excess of their contracted hours.

Originally published as Sexyland has been accused of underpaying staff by the SDA as it lodges complaint with the Employee Tribunal