Employees for mega fashion retailer The Iconic have alleged some grim working conditions in one of its Sydney offices. It was also recently revealed the company had paid back around $1 million in underpaid wages.
The Sydney Morning Herald published a lengthy piece on Tuesday containing claims from current and former employees.
According to the piece, staff in Alexandria, Sydney described working in a converted warehouse which didn’t have air con or central heating.
One former staffer alleged there are “no windows or air conditioning, the only outside air you get comes from the big delivery door when you open it”. They also claimed employees had portable fans on their desks at all times to “try and combat the heat”.
Another ex-staffer described people “walking around in blankets” during winter and said “they even issued us thermal gloves but they were impossible to type in”.
One of the wildest claims reported by The SMH is that some models’ hands looked “blue” ‘cos of the cold, and had to be digitally retouched.
The Iconic told PEDESTRIAN.TV in a statement that “the wellbeing of our people and the models we work with is paramount” and that it takes its “obligations to provide a safe workplace very seriously”.
The company said it undertakes regular occupational health and safety audits and workplace inspections — which includes monitoring of the internal temperatures at all its facilities.
“These audits have found that our facilities comply with thermal comfort standards as required by Safe Work NSW,” it said.
The company added that after feedback from some employees and models, the specific Sydney site in question would have infrared heating by the end of January next year. It said it already has industrial ceiling fans and wall fans for the summer.
“We also ensure that both our employees and models have easy access to heat lamps and warm clothing should they request it at any point,” the statement said.
It also turns out The Iconic underpaid staff more than $1 million. The Iconic self-reported the missing wages to the Fair Work Ombudsman in March 2022. When the company did an external and external audit of its accounting system, payroll errors were uncovered.
According to The SMH, approximately 800 casual staff between 2013 and 2020 were underpaid hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars.
The company has since paid back 95 per cent of the $1.38 million owned with both interest and super. There are some underpaid workers The Iconic has not been able to contact. They’ll be able to access the money they’re owed through the Commonwealth’s Consolidated Revenue scheme if they decide to.
“I want to apologise to everyone that this has happened — it is unacceptable and we are very disappointed,” CEO Erica Berchtold told staff in an email from March 1, 2022.
“We’ve taken responsibility for our mistake and have self-reported it to the Fair Work Ombudsman.
“We are also working with independent experts and investing significantly in our [human resources] information and payroll processes and systems to ensure this does not happen again.”
A spokesperson for the company told News.com.au that it “deeply regrets that this occurred and has apologised to all employees involved”.
