Crown Resorts, the largest owner and operator of land-based casinos in Australia, has admitted that it has made an error concerning some of its staff wages and will pay them back a total of 1.2 million Australian dollars.
Around 200 casino employees will receive a share of the 1.2 million Australian dollars, which means that on average an employee would get around 6,000 Australian dollars.
The wage errors happened over six years in which the company wrongly classified the respective employees as “award free”. Because of that the company failed to pay the 200 chefs, concierges, receptionists, administrative assistants, hairdressers, beauty and massage therapists in line with minimum award rates, overtime, leave and penalty rates. The errors happened at Crown Melbourne and Crown Perth, the casinos that the company operates in the respective Australian cities.
In addition to the 1.2 million Australian dollars, Crown Resorts will also have to pay 350,000 Australian dollars to the Commonwealth Consolidated Revenue Fund after having signed an agreement to that respect with the Fair Work Ombudsman.
When it first discovered the error, the company estimated that it would have to pay around 2.1 million Australian dollars in compensation to its employees, but eventually the bill was a lot lower than expected.