CBA Group Executive, Human Resources Sian Lewis
Commonwealth Bank will have to cough up A$3 million to thousands of branch staff who were told they were not allowed to take ten minute rest breaks in the last six years.
The Finance Sector Union launched legal action over tea break entitlements in the Federal Court in January 2022 and this month negotiated a settlement with the bank.
Provisions for tea breaks are included in the CBA enterprise agreement and the bank’s directives to staff not to take them has resulted in another case of wage theft at the bank.
Under the terms of the settlement reached with the union CBA will pay $3 million to 3000 branch staff who were denied rest breaks.
Full time branch staff will receive a one-off payment of up to $750 calculated on a sliding scale depending on years of service.
Part-time staff will receive up to $487 and casuals up to $187.50.
FSU assistant secretary Jason Hall said a large amount of evidence was gathered from staff at bank branches who had complained they were unable to take their entitled breaks.
“The weight of evidence and witness statements our members supplied shows how deeply they felt about not being able to take breaks because of the constant pressure of work they are required to perform in CBA branches,” Hall said.
“Our members are committed to serving the needs of their customers, however, with constant queues out the door and increasing workloads, they also deserve to have a break.”
“The CBA has finally recognised its responsibility to give workers a break – or compensate them financially if those breaks are not able to be taken.”
CBA, which earlier this month reported a full year profit of $10.2 billion, has recently carved out an inglorious reputation as a repeat wage thief.
In April this year the bank and its CommSec subsidiary admitted to knowingly underpaying more than 7000 staff $16 million over six years to 2021.
In December 2019, CBA owned up to underpaying 41,000 current and former employees more than $53 million over a ten-year period.
When the bank reported its full year results in 2020, the group’s executive head of human resources Sian Lewis received an uplift of more than $500,000 in her statutory pay to $1.86 million.
In 2021 her statutory pay increased to $2.25 million.
According to the bank’s latest annual report Lewis’ total pay was $2.77 million for the
12 months to the end of June.
Lewis was appointed to lead the human resources function at CBA in 2018.
According to a profile published on the CBA’s website, Lewis is committed to promoting employee wellbeing at the bank and offering “the very best experiences for employees”.