Fair Work Ombudsman takes CBA to court

The Commonwealth Bank (CBA) is facing civil penalty proceedings initiated by the Fair Work Ombudsman but claims it has already remediated employees after self-reporting issues back in 2018.

The bank announced to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) today that the Fair Work Ombudsman had commenced civil proceedings in the Federal Court against CBA and Commonwealth Securities Limited alleging contraventions of the Fair Work Act.,

It said it acknowledged that any instance of employees not being paid their correct entitlements was unacceptable and that a comprehensive remediation program had been underway since early 2018 to identify and address a number of issues dating back to 2010.

“The employee entitlement issues were self-reported to the Fair Work Ombudsman and publicly disclosed from early 2019,” the bank said. “In response to these issues, systems and processes have been strengthened and CBA and CommSec have not offered any new Individual Flexibility Arrangements for more than two years.”

“CBA and CommSec have cooperated fully with the FWO’s investigation. CBA and CommSec will continue to engage constructively with the FWO to seek to resolve these proceedings.,”

“The payment of remediation to impacted employees is substantially complete. The FWO has conducted an extensive review of the remediation. CBA believes no further compensation payments will need to be made to employees who are the subject of these proceedings once the existing payments are completed.”