Brisbane-based employees said they were paid in cash – $5 notes – and up to $16 an hour below the award wage.
Brisbane Mint My Desk employee Louisa McCarthy says some staff are not given payslips and are paid in cash below award wages.Tony Moore
Many of the employees at the Mint My Desk and Million-life stores are students working for the first time. They staged a protest in Brisbane on Saturday,taking to King George Square.
The employees also took their complaints to TikTok,with 230,000 views.
Mint My Desk has three stores in Brisbane – Uptown (formerly the Myer Centre) and Westfield’s Mt Gravatt and Chermside shopping centres,with other stores in Sydney,Melbourne and Adelaide.
Brisbane Mint My Desk employees protested in King George Square.Supplied
Million-life has stores in the Brisbane CBD,Westfield Mt Gravatt and Chermside,Sunnybank and the Gold Coast.
Twenty-year-old Louisa McCarthy said the Brisbane protests had forced the temporary closure of the shops where the employees worked.
“We were just fed up with the fact that they are constantly expanding and opening up new stores,and yet they are paying $5 and $10 below the minimum wage,” McCarthy said.
“People still don’t get payslips. Some people do,but others receive an envelope with their name on it and cash in $5 notes.
The Mint My Desk at Uptown,formerly the Myer Centre.Tony Moore
McCarthy,who is studying a history degree,said her own pay showed major discrepancies.
“In my own pay alone,I was underpaid one week $400,which is a lot for someone studying,” she said.
McCarthy said individual workers had lodged complaints with the Fair Work Ombudsman last year and were in contact with the Fair Work Commission and Australian Taxation Office.
The workers claimed their $23 hourly base rate should be $32.10.
Another Brisbane employee told of being paid in $5 notes and being forced to rely on their parents to help cover their $319 weekly rent.
Mint My Desk major shareholder Acho Yu said she could not comment while the company investigated the log of claims sent on Saturday morning.
Yu confirmed the claims included allegations of staff not receiving payslips and being underpaid.
She said two Brisbane stores would close between Tuesday and Thursday.
“Due to the recent publicity our sales have dropped significantly,” she said.
“But again,I can’t give you a more detailed response until I do the investigations.”
While employees said they had raised concerns since early 2022,Yu said she became aware of issues on Saturday.
“Mint My Desk notes however that any concerns raised by these employees should be done in a respectful and courteous manner. MMD is committed to trying to work through any live issues collaboratively with the employees,and trust that the employees will do the same when communicating with MMD or about MMD publicly.”
Thewas contacted for comment.