Overview
- Justice Nye Perram found the chains failed to maintain required records for salaried store leaders, preventing proper tracking of overtime, penalties and other award entitlements.
- Woolworths told the ASX it expects $250 million to $470 million in back pay plus $200 million to $280 million in interest, superannuation and payroll tax, a pre‑tax liability potentially reaching $750 million that it called highly preliminary.
- Coles issued a preliminary estimate of $150 million to $250 million for further remediation, cautioned investors about uncertainty in the figures and indicated it may consider an appeal.
- The judgment consolidates four matters filed in 2019–2020 by the Fair Work Ombudsman and Adero Law, covering roughly 27,700 affected employees across multiple cities.
- A Federal Court case-management hearing on 27 October will address how compensation will be calculated and implemented, with the watchdog also seeking penalties.