Hundreds of young Australian women are behind the class action lawsuit against Australian jeweller Lovisa.
According to Adero Law, there are now over 300 registered group members in the lawsuit, with each having worked for Lovisa between 2018 to 2024.
The lawsuit seeks for damages regarding wage underpayments, plus interest and penalties.
Lovisa has since shared a statement to the ASX saying it will defend the class action proceedings.
“The company takes its obligations under the Fair Work Act and the Lovisa Enterprise Agreements of 2014 and 2022 very seriously, including obligations to pay overtime, and has processes in place to monitor compliance with employment laws,” Lovisa reported.
According to Adero, the claim alleges multiple serious contraventions of Lovisa’s own Enterprise Agreements and the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), which span over a decade and impacting an estimated 1000 current and former employees.
“The international jewellery brand has operated in Australia since 2010 and has over 178 stores in Australia,” Adero shared in a media release. “Adero Law understands that its sales staff is comprised predominantly of young women (often school or tertiary students) in part-time roles, often guaranteeing as little as four hours per fortnight.”
Adero then shared over a dozen key claims made by the members in the lawsuit, including allegations that employees were regularly required to arrive at work 15-20 minutes before the start of their shift, regardless of whether they were rostered to open the store or start later in the day.
Adero was told that they were not paid overtime or at all for the additional 15-20 minutes worked before the start of their shift.
Employees were also required to stay back at the end of their closing shift to clean up or balance the till, and allegedly were not paid for the additional time.
According to a statement of claim shared to the Federal Court of Australia, and read by Ragtrader, some regional managers attended certain stores 15 minutes early to ensure that staff had abided by the above rule.
Staff were also allegedly required to undertake training in their own time, unpaid, which usually went on for an hour or more. The former employees claim they were compensated with Lovisa gift cards.
Other key allegations include failing to provide meal and rest breaks, failing to pay travel, clothing and other allowances, and regularly requiring staff to purchase product out of their own money, which they were then required to wear while working.
The statement of claim reported that a former Lovisa store manager in the lawsuit claims was not allowed to have a full 40-minute unpaid meal break between late November and early January. Another former store manager claims she was required to be ‘on-call’ to serve customers during her 20-30 minute unpaid break.
Staff were also allegedly told to clock in and out of their shift based on their rostered time rather than the actual hours worked.
Other claims include employees being discouraged from taking sick leave, employees rostered to work alone, and employees being required to perform piercings in-store with as little as two hours of training.
“The decision made by Lovisa to exploit their young workforce, many of whom are entering the workforce for the first time falls far below the standard expected from an international company that prides itself on having a team culture that prioritises respect and dignity,” Adero Law managing principal Rory Markham said.
Ragtrader has reached out to Lovisa for further comment.