Retailing conglomerate Wesfarmers has joined Woolworths, Super Auto and Coles (which used to be a part of the conglomerate) in revealing a multi-million dollar underpayment to staff.
Wesfarmers revealed on Wednesday in its interim results that it had underpaid Target staff by $9 million.
That took the total value of underpayments to staff to $41 million, so far. Wesfarmers had announced total staff underpayments of $30.1 million dollars in recent months.
The company says it has not identified any other underpayments at its businesses, which include department store Kmart and office supplies company Officeworks.
The latest underpayments takes the value disclosed by the big retail groups to more than $400 million, dominated by Woolies and its $300 million bill.
Wesfarmers noted it had uncovered further payroll errors after discovering underpayments at its Bunnings and Industrials division.
A total of $9 million in provisions were booked relating to Target staff who had been underpaid by the multi-billion dollar retailer.
The earlier underpayments were also in Bunnings and the industrial companies Blackwoods, Workwear Group, Coregas and Greencap.
“Immediate steps are being taken to rectify identified issues, notify and repay affected team members, including interest, and ensure accuracy in the future through a robust program of auditing and monitoring,” CEO Rob Scott said in a statement.
Wesfarmers shares rose 2.8% to $46.55 despite weak earnings growth a lower interim dividend.
