Reilly Group pays out $100k to make up for underpayments

A group of former employees at a chain of popular Sydney pubs have been paid more than $100,000 to make up for “regular and systematic” underpayments.

Last year, the Reilly Group paid out more than $100,000 to 31 former workers who complained they had been underpaid. Reilly Group lawyer Dion Manca told news.com.au that the company had “promptly investigated the complaint”.

“[Reilly Group] appointed independent lawyers to audit its venues and the pay and conditions of all of its employees and former employees during their period of employment, updated each affected employee as to the progress of the review in writing and apologised to each affected employee in writing,” Manca said.

“The misclassification of employment of the affected employees was an oversight and error, which arose due to a misinterpretation of the relevant Award conditions, which was swiftly investigated, reviewed (including professional independent review) and rectified.”

Former employee Myf Nizette had noticed she wasn’t paid at the correct rate after working at the Henson in Marrickville as a bottle shop attendant. Speaking to some co-workers, she realised they were also being underpaid.

She brought the matter to management but was told that other people’s rate of pay was “none of my business”.

However, when several former employees submitted requests for pay slips, Reilly Group operations manager Luke Dryland sent an all-staff email denying anyone had been underpaid.

“Certain staff have been making accusations that casual employees are getting underpaid. This is not true,” Dryland said in the email. Two hours after that email was sent, Nizette was let go by the company.

“They had hired two other people in the bottle shop that fortnight,” she told news.com.au. “I was the longest-serving person in that section. They hired another person into my position very soon afterwards. So the excuse that my position was being made redundant was utter bollocks, to be honest.”

However, the Reilly Group disputes Nizette’s claim. “No casual bottle shop staff were hired shortly after the termination of Ms Nizette. No complaints, inquiries or allegations regarding the termination of Ms Nizette have ever been raised with the Reilly Group,” the company said.

The Group’s lawyer maintained that it is “a responsible and positive organisation”.

“The staff payment error was an isolated issue, promptly and satisfactorily addressed and any attempts to somehow leverage that error so as to paint a picture that Reilly Group operates venues that are unfair and unsafe for workers is completely false and inappropriate,” Manca said.