Coles has been accused of underpaying more than 7,800 employees a total of $115 million by the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO).
The FWO has begun legal proceedings against the supermarket giant in the Federal Court.
It claims the alleged underpayments occurred between 1 January 2017 and 31 March 2020.
The alleged underpaid Coles employees were working in regional and metropolitan areas across every state and territory.
Most were responsible for managing a department or function within a Coles supermarket, such as bakery, customer service, delicatessen, dry goods, fresh produce, meat and night-fill.
The FWO alleges most of the underpayments were the result of Coles paying its salaried employees annual salaries that were insufficient to cover their minimum lawful entitlements, given the employees generally performed "significant amounts of overtime work."
The FWO alleges Coles’ salaried managers were generally contracted and rostered to work 40 hours per week, but often worked more hours.
It alleges the salaried managers worked an average of approximately one hour per shift on top of their rostered hours, during that three-year period.
The FWO also alleges that weekend and...
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