South Australia's largest private employer and convenience store chain, OTR has agreed to pay almost $6 million to settle long-running wage underpayment claims.
Federal court documents reveal OTR agreed to pay $5.8 million dollars to settle a class action involving accusations it underpaid staff across South Australia between 2014 and 2020.
The class action was launched on behalf of 1,050 workers in May 2020.
Law firm Adero Law estimated that 8,000 current or former employees were eligible to join the class action when it was first brought to court.
It also claimed Shahin Enterprises could be liable to pay back between $50 million and $70 million in unpaid wages and entitlements.
The company was accused of failing to pay overtime, underpaying staff and misusing its traineeship program as a method to reduce workers' pay.
OTR denies the allegations.
The proposed settlement would come with no admission of liability or wrongdoing on the part of the convenience store chain.
If approved by the court, the lump-sum payment will be divided between employees who have already registered to be part of the proceedings.
The Federal Court will decide in December whether to approve the settlement.
