7-Eleven has responded to fresh allegations that staff at a Brisbane 7-Eleven store were forced to pay back wages in cash, and urged anyone with evidence of illegal practices at 7-Eleven stores to come forward.
A covert video obtained by the ABC purports to show a worker at a Brisbane 7-Eleven store paying a portion of her wages back to the franchisee in cash.
According to the ABC report, an employee named only as ‘Anna’ said that she and other staff were told to pay back thousands of dollars or face losing their jobs.
“My bosses say they can’t afford to pay the government rate. That’s why they ask us to give some of the money back,” Anna said.
7-Eleven said it was not previously aware of any concerns relating to this store and that no staff member had raised any issue with them.
“7-Eleven takes any allegation of illegal activity in our franchisee network extremely seriously,” the company said.
“We will be appalled if these allegations are proven. Our franchisee network knows we take a zero tolerance approach to wage fraud.”
7-Eleven claimed it made a significant investment over the past year to ensure that all store team members received the correct wages and conditions applicable under the relevant award.
The alleged practice shown in the video occurred after correct wages have been paid.
7-Eleven said the practice was “effectively extortion or theft in breach of the law, our Franchise Agreement, our policies and our values”, and that it had commenced an internal investigation into these latest allegations.
For the full text of the 7-Eleven statement click here.
Anyone with evidence of or concerns about illegal practices at 7-Eleven stores can contact their Franchisee Employee Helpline on 1800 711 243.
This story originally appeared on C&I Week.