Domino’s wages audit falls further behind

dominos-cheltenhamDomino’s audit of its Australian stores in response to allegations of widespread staff underpayments has slipped six months behind schedule.

The pizza maker announced on Wednesday that the audit of more than 700 franchised and corporate stores is taking longer than anticipated and that it won’t be able to meet its June deadline.

The company now expects the audit to be finished within six months.

The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) is also investigating a number of Domino’s stores after media reports this year of widespread underpaying of staff and a visa scam at one franchisee-owned store.

Domino’s has been performing store audits over the past three years and in March extended the audit across its whole national network.

The company says an independent review by Deloitte into Domino’s audit process is well advanced, but the findings have yet to be released.

The fast food retailer said it will provide a further update on the national audit and the Deloitte review at its full-year results in August.

Shares in Domino’s have been under pressure in recent weeks and were trading at a 18-month low of $57.75 at 1028 AEST on Wednesday.

The pizza chain was recently penalised $18,000 by the consumer watchdog for failing to comply with the franchising code of conduct. 

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said it issued the infringement notices because it believed that Domino’s failed to comply with the requirement in the franchising code of conduct to provide franchisees with both an annual marketing fund financial statement and an auditor’s report within the time limits prescribed under the Code.

The penalty for breaches is fixed at $9000 and Domino’s was issued with two infringement notices. 

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