A joint investigation by ABC’s Four Corners and Fairfax Media‘s BusinessDay has exposed shocking exploitation of employees by 7-Eleven store owners in Australia, unveiling a so-called “half pay” scam.
BusinessDay’s investigation has labelled the convenience store chain as a “sweatshop on every corner”, while claiming 7-Eleven stores allegedly pay some of its workers as little as $10 per hour – or, “ruthlessly rorting wages of its workers“, according to the report.
Findings of the investigation show an alleged severe underpaying of wages in 7-Eleven franchised stores across the nation, with internal documents from July and August this year noting 69% of the chain’s 225 stores were flagged with payroll issues.
A consumer advocate, Michael Fraser, who has conducted investigations on 7-Eleven operations, told Fairfax Media that certain franchisees would strategically employ foreigners who had 20 hour per week working conditions on their visas. After allegedly forcing such employees to work over 20 hours in some weeks, owners would hold the violation “over their head” and threaten to report the additional hours worked to the Government – if they spoke out about their underpayment in the workplace.
The report follows a recent wage scandal involving burger restaurant Grill’d – where one former employee, Kahlani Pyrah, was sacked after calling out the company for underpaying staff. Yesterday, Pyrah received a “substantial payout” from Grill’d in a settlement before the matter reached court.
You can read Fairfax Media and ABC Four Corners’ joint investigation into 7-Eleven’s “half pay” scam here.
via SMH.
Lead image by the Washington Post via Getty.
