While all those underpayments have now been rectified,The Iconic engaged independent external auditors to conduct payroll checks that identified 551 casual staff had also been underpaid a total of $200,937 in wages,interest,super and lost earnings between 2020 to 2023.
“The Iconic deeply regrets that the issue has occurred,” said a statement from the retailer.
“We take our obligations very seriously,and we believe that our new payroll and human resources systems as well as our ongoing vigilance in reviewing and upgrading our payroll processes and data minimises the risk of this happening again.”
The company has self-reported the additional underpayments to the Fair Work Ombudsman,established a dedicated team to provide affected staff with information and support,and is in the final stages of remediation,it said.
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In an email to affected workers on Friday,The Iconic’s new chief executive Jere Calmes said the business “extends our sincerest apologies” to staff impacted by the “misapplication of the relevant awards”.
Some staff were overpaid,but will not be asked to pay back the funds. Other underpayments were less than $1. “However we have committed to paying all impacted ICONITEs a minimum of $50 as a gesture of good faith,” Calmes wrote.