Officeworks underpaid staff, says union   

Officeworks staff were forced to work excessive hours without being paid overtime, a union claims.   
July 18 2022
New Daily

Officeworks failed to roster staff properly or pay them the correct overtime, the retail union has claimed in a new Federal Court lawsuit.

The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association filed the case on Thursday seeking compensation for 70 employees who allege they were underpaid. The union is also seeking pecuniary penalties.

Officeworks allegedly breached its store operations enterprise agreement and the Fair Work Act by failing to roster staff for a prescribed maximum of 19 days in a four-week cycle, and then neglecting to pay overtime for hours worked in excess of this limit.

After employees at the store in Fairy Meadow, NSW raised concerns in August 2020, the union took the dispute to the Fair Work Commission.

Fair Work Commissioner Bernie Riordan ruled in the SDA’s favour in September last year, and an appeal by Officeworks was rejected by the commission’s full bench a few months later in December.

According to court documents, Officeworks engaged in “serious contraventions” by then refusing to follow the FWC’s decisions.

“By virtue of its conduct in refusing to be bound by the Riordan and the Full Bench Decisions, Officeworks’ conduct was part of a systematic pattern of conduct,” the union wrote.

The SDA and Officeworks have been approached for comment.

Jake Winker Frogen wrote on Jul 18^th, 2022 at 5:27pm:


When I was made redundant from my "real" job, I got a job at Officeworks
first store in Richmond, Victoria in 1994.  It was an old Cusson's soap factory,
and had no air-conditioning.  I then worked in their second store in Ringwood,
their third store at South Melbourne, and briefly at Frankston and Highett.