Merivale has agreed to settle the underpayments class action brought against it in 2019, for $19.25m.
The Merivale Class Action was commenced against M.R.V.L. Investments Pty Ltd (Merivale) in the Federal Court of Australia on 24 December 2019 on behalf of Merivale employees that were employed at any time during the period from 25 December 2013 to 24 December 2019.
On Friday 29 November, Merivale agreed to pay $19.25m to resolve the case, without the admission of any liability. The funder of the class action, ICP, will receive $6.34m, $3.7m of which will be their commission and management fee, with the rest to cover expenses. Additionally, Adero Law will receive over $800,000. The rest will be divvied out to the Merivale employees in the aforementioned time period who registered for the class action.
The case
The claim alleged that throughout that period, a number of Merivale employees were paid less than the minimum amounts to which they were entitled under the Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2010. These employees included salaried workers who alleged that they were paid for 38 hours per week while being required to work at least 50-hour weeks without any overtime payments, as well as casual and salaried workers who allege that the rates that they were paid were less than their minimum entitlements.
As part of the claim, Adero Law also contended that Merivale’s employee agreement, created in 2007 and amended in 2009, varied from the Hospitality Award, and was not a valid one.
In early 2020, a spokesperson for Merivale told TheShout: “Merivale categorically denies that any of its employees have been required to work unreasonable additional hours against their will.
“Full time Merivale employees have been paid annualised salaries with hours averaged over 52 weeks as permitted under the enterprise agreement that applied to Merivale employees from 2007 until 2019 and in accordance with the Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2010 since the agreement was terminated by consent.
However on 30 March 2021 the Merivale case suffered a blow when Justice Thawley made orders that the Merivale Agreement was beyond power. In an Adero notice to group members, it argued that this judgment meant that the workers should have been paid according to the Award not the Merivale Agreement, from 25 December 2013 instead of from 4 March 2019.
Merivale declined to comment on the settlement.
