Monday, 2 December 2019: Woolworths Group Limited (Woolworths Group) has been notified that a Canberra law firm has announced its intention to file an employee class action proceedings against Woolworths Group in the Federal Court of Australia, in relation to payment shortfalls to Woolworths salaried store team members covered by the General Retail Industry Award.

On 30 October 2019, Woolworths Group committed to fully rectify all payment shortfalls to current and former salaried team members across the Group, including interest and superannuation contributions, as soon as possible.

In keeping with that commitment, Woolworths Group continues to work towards making interim payments (including superannuation contributions and interest) before Christmas, to affected current and former salaried Supermarkets and Metro store team members for the two years reviewed to date (September 2017 to August 2019).

In the context of its commitment to fully remediate all affected salaried team members, Woolworths Group believes the class action proceedings are without merit. Woolworths Group will fully defend the proceedings.

As stated in its 30 October announcement, Woolworths estimates that the one-off impact for remediation is expected to be in the range of $200-300 million (before tax). An update will be provided at the Group’s Half Year 2020 results in February.

Ends.