Merivale to pay $19.25 million to former staff

Justin Hemmes’ Merivale has agreed to pay $19.25 million to former staff who allege the hospitality giant underpaid them. Merivale, which operates over 90 Australian hospitality venues, did not admit any liability in relation to the claims.

The settlement comes off the back of a class action lawsuit that employment law firm Adero launched on behalf of Merivale’s workforce in December 2019. The lawsuit accused Merivale of $126  million of wage theft. Five years of legal arguments in federal court followed.

The claims relate to a period between December 2013 and December 2019, and 2,895 people were registered to partake in the settlement. The first allegation was from salaried employees who were paid for 38-hour-work weeks but often worked 55 hours or more without overtime.

The second allegation related to Merivale’s employment agreement with all of its staff until early 2019. Adero lawyers argued that the agreement, which had set standard rates of pay since 2007, had been invalid since 2009 when the Workplace Authority (Fair Work’s predecessor) ordered it to cease.

A court-appointed administrator will oversee the settlement. Former employees who are registered participants in the class action will receive a letter stating their estimated underpayment and eligible payout and over $6.3m of the settlement will go to the lawsuit’s commercial backers, ICP Funding.

“Merivale categorically denies that any of its employees have been required to work unreasonable additional hours against their will,” said a Merivale spokesperson at the beginning of 2020.