ASX listed car dealership AP Eagers is yet another in the long list of companies to be caught in the wage scandal in Australia. Over the past seven years it has underpaid 6200 employees to the tune of $4.5 million, 0.25 per cent of the company’s payroll.
On Tuesday it announced it had identified issues in its payroll system during a centralisation process, it resulted in the underpayment to a number of its employees, effecting pay rates, superannuation contributions and overtime. The company have appointed PwC to undertake a full audit of the payroll system.
AP Eagers operates close to 230 dealerships, primarily across the east coast. It also has a fellow car dealership AHG acquired by the company in September. It will undertake a full review of staff payments at AHG.
AP Eagers Chief Executive Martin Ward released a statement apologising to employees, promising to rectify amounts owed to both current and past employees with interest as soon as possible. The company took full responsibility for the error and acknowledged basic employee rights – to ensure employees are paid in full and on time.
AP Eagers joins a growing list of companies that have underpaid employees, some of which include Woolworths, Bunnings, Super Retail Group, 7-Eleven, Commonwealth Bank and Michael Hill.
While these companies have all taken responsibility for their oversight and identified their poor internal processes or payroll system issues, there has been no real action taken to deal with the influx of cases of underpayment and employee exploitation.
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