7-Eleven selected franchisees who mostly came from countries with poor labor laws and labor rights, a lawyer claims.
Sydney lawyer Stewart Levitt made the claims in an unpublished submission to a Senate inquiry following an ABC/ Fairfax media investigation that exposed widespread underpayment of 7-Eleven staff.
"Head office was involved in what has been at least de facto ethnic selection of franchisees, who are overwhelmingly from the Indian sub-continent," he said in the submission, obtained by SBS.
"Having addressed rallies of around 100 franchisees at a time in locations up and down Eastern Australia, it is rare to see a white face, it is counter-intuitive to believe that this was not a deliberate policy."
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The submission alleged that many franchisees were attracted by a perception of “easy finance” in the form of loans facilitated by the company through banks.
"Unsuitable loans were made to franchisees, of whom the vast majority had no relevant experience," the submission said.
"They had no retail experience; they had no experience of working in the food industry; they were often new migrants to Australia with young families to support."
The submission claimed that many women with young children and little work experience were asked to provide guarantees or become named company directors in order to secure large loans.
It said many families now owed hundreds of thousands of dollars and had no "demonstrable capacity" to repay.
7-Eleven has been contacted for comment.
