Hardware giant, Bunnings, has admitted that they have underpaid several of their workers’ superannuation by around $200 dollar each in the past nine years. The company blamed a glitch in their payroll system that has caused them to overlook the super payment for their employees, including those who have worked in their Australian stores.
Part-time workers who rendered service more than their annual contracted hours in the 2011 financial year onward were affected by the coding error. The company said that “in most case,” the only affected superannuation payments are from May or June in the relevant year.
Bunnings confirmed that they are undergoing some sort of “reconciliation” and would make a back payment plus compensation to affected employees in four to six weeks. Nonetheless, the company refused to reveal the actual amount of the unpaid superannuation, but news outlets reported that most of the employees are owed less than $200 in underpayment.
“We understand the importance of ensuring our team members are paid everything they are entitled to in full and on time – in this case, whilst inadvertent, we ‘thaven’t, and we are very sorry for that,” Bunnings human resources director Jacqui Coombes said.
She also expressed their apologies saying that they are “very sorry” for what has happened. “Our focus now is on making sure we complete this reconciliation thoroughly, and as quickly as possible, so we can ensure that the superannuation contributions and compensation owing are made to team ‘members’ superannuation funds,” she added.
Coombes also assured their employees that such an incident would not happen in the coming future. “We have also fixed the original error to ensure that this does not happen again,” she said.
Bunnings comes next in the long list of retailers and companies that have recently been revealed to be underpaying their workers. Jewellery chain Michael Hill, apparel retailer Sunglass Hut and celebrity chef George Calombaris are others that recently were found to have underpaid staff millions.
