Brisbane meat processor Australian Country Choice Holdings (ACCH) has admitted it underpaid staff more than $2.5 million and will enter into an enforceable undertaking with the Fair Work Ombudsman.
In response, unions have warned workers from other companies should check their entitlements.
Between 2010 and 2021, employees at the abattoir and meat processing facility at Cannon Hill were underpaid entitlements, ranging from less than $1 to more than $134,000, under several awards and enterprise agreements.
The privately owned company, part of the Australian Country Choice (ACC) group, has back paid 342 current and former employees, including meat workers, cleaners, stock-persons and administrative staff, nearly $3.28 million, including superannuation and interest.
Australian Country Choice chief executive officer Anthony Lee said having seen media releases about enforceable undertakings, ACC conducted its own review and discovered some underpayments.
"We self-reported and have been remediating since 2021," he said.
"This undertaking is just part of the process."
Acting Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) Michael Campbell said the company demonstrated a strong commitment to rectifying underpayments.
"Under the enforceable undertaking, ACCH has committed to implementing stringent measures to ensure workers are being paid correctly," he said.
"These measures include conducting, at the company's own cost, audits of its compliance with workplace laws over the next two years as well as reporting to the FWO on the extensive upgrade of its human resources and record keeping systems."
"Any employer who needs help meeting their lawful obligations to their employees should contact the Fair Work Ombudsman for free advice and assistance."
The underpayments occurred because companies within the ACC Group engaged employees on contracts and incorrectly believed they could offset entitlements such as overtime by paying a higher rate of pay and failing to ensure pay rates increased with annual national minimum wages increases.
The companies also breached record-keeping and payslip laws.
ACCH must also make a $200,000 contrition payment to the Commonwealth's Consolidated Revenue Fund and is required to engage an independent organisation to operate a hotline for employees to enquire about their entitlements for the next year.
'Zombie agreements' a concern
Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union acting federal secretary Matt Journeaux said the problem was a legacy of Work Choices, where groups of workers were put under individual contracts, and more work was needed to stamp out the practice.
He said the agreements, known as zombie agreements, meant penalty rates and other provisions could be avoided by employers paying a higher hourly rate.
"There are still zombie agreements floating around; the legislation at the moment doesn't prohibit or knock those agreements out," Mr Journeaux said.
"They are supposed to keep up with the award, but I could nearly guarantee that there are agreements out there that haven't."
He praised the company's efforts in rectifying the problem and said it was "absolutely paramount" other companies voluntarily engaged in the process.
"In the meat industry, it's few and far between but there certainly are a couple of companies out there where zombie agreements still apply," he said.
"I'm sure that there are people out there that have been underpaid.
"Really the Fair Work Act needs to be amended to cater for these sorts of situations so they don't happen again in the future."
