Domino's uncovers $1.1b in underpayments

An audit of Domino's Pizza franchisees and a probe into individual complaints has so far recovered $1.1 billion in unpaid wages and super.

Domino's Pizza says it has recovered $1.1 billion in unpaid wages and superannuation from its probe into staff complaints and an audit of stores across Australia.

The pizza chain says it has so far recovered $770,000 in unpaid wages and superannuation from its completed audit of 15 stores, and ongoing audit of another 41 stores.

It has also recovered $249,000 in wages and super after investigating 55 individual complaints, while another 19 complaints are still being looked into.

Three Domino's franchisees, who operated a total of six stores, are no longer part of the business.

Domino's said it is withholding a total of $487,000 for wage back-payments at those six stores.

Chief executive Don Meij, who opted to forgo a cash bonus of over $500,000 because of the underpayments scandal, said the audit was taking longer than originally expected, and will take another five months.

He said the Fairwork Ombudsman, which is also investigating Domino's franchisees over allegations of staff underpayments, has issued notices to the company and some franchisees.

"There has been a small number of franchisees who have been cleared," Mr Meij said.

"We don't have the full report from the Fairwork Ombudsman and are still working with them on their review."

Allegations of staff underpayments were first raised in February, and have weighed on the company's share price as analysts raised concerns about the profitability of franchisees.

Mr Meij attempted to address those concerns on Tuesday as he presented the company's 25 per cent annual profit growth in the 2016/17 year.

"In a high inflationary wage environment, profitability for franchisees have increased by over 25 per cent in the past two years," he said.

Domino's will increase staff wages in the first half of the current financial year while it continues to negotiate a new enterprise bargaining agreement with the retail workers union.

Mr Meij chose to forgo his short-term cash bonus in the 2016/17 financial year because of the "negative effect" of the publicity of underpayments by franchisees.

But his total remuneration of $4.66 million was still nearly 17 per cent higher than the previous year's, due to an increase in share-based payments.


Share
2 min read

Published

Source: AAP


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world
Domino's uncovers $1.1b in underpayments | SBS News