Woolworths trolley collector underpaid $26,000 in less than four months

Date
    May 23, 2016
    Sydney Morning Herald

The 26-year-old Korean national was unpaid $26,000 in less than four months.   

A Woolworths supermarket trolley collector was allegedly made to work from 9am to 10pm, seven days a week for a flat-rate of $701.25 per week, the Fair Work Ombudsman has found.

The 26-year-old Korean national was unpaid for long hours of overtime and underpaid by $26,000 in less than four months.

The man who spoke little English was on a 417 working holiday visa when he was employed to collect trolleys at the Woolworths in Punchbowl, in western Sydney, between January 12 and April 20 last year.


The legal action is the second to result from the Fair Work Ombudsman's national inquiry into Woolworths' trolley collection services.

The Fair Work Ombudsman is taking legal action in the Federal Circuit Court in Sydney against the man's Sydney employer, David Kim and his trolley collection and cleaning company, Green World Management Pty Ltd.


The Ombudsman's office said the employee was allegedly paid little or nothing for the overtime he performed, despite being entitled to $27.02 and $45.03 an hour.

The employer also allegedly failed to issue proper pay slips or keep employment records. Workplace laws regulating annual leave entitlements and reasonable working hours were also allegedly breached.   


Mr Kim's company allegedly breached frequency-of-pay laws by withholding the worker's first pay packet as a bond which was not returned to him until three months later.

The Fair Work Ombudsman said Mr Kim repaid the alleged $26,308 underpayment after it contacted him.

Mr Kim faces penalties of up to $10,200 for each contravention of workplace laws and Green World Management Pty Ltd faces penalties of up to $51,000 per contravention.

The legal action is the second to result from the Fair Work Ombudsman's national Inquiry into Woolworths' trolley collection services.

The Fair Work Ombudsman last week commenced legal action against Sydney man Said Sabbagh and a trolley collection company he formerly owned and operated, Civic National Pty Ltd. The company provided trolley collection services at three Woolworths supermarkets and a Big W in Wagga in regional NSW.

I don't think it's the first time that the companies that provide the trolley collection services have been in the news for this sort of thing.