News: WOW UPDATE 1-Victoria's wage enforcement agency charges Woolworths for underpaying...

(Adds details on charges in paragraph 2&3, quote in paragraph 4, background in paragraph 5,6 and 7)

Aug 2 (Reuters) - The wage law enforcement agency of the Australian state of Victoria on Wednesday said it has filed more than 1,000 charges against top grocer Woolworths Group (WOW) , alleging failure to pay A$1 million ($659,000.00) in long-service leaves to over 1,200 former employees.

The Wage Inspectorate Victoria (WIV) alleged that between 2018 and 2021, Woolworths did not pay more than A$960,000 in long-service leave entitlements to 1,199 former employees.

During the same period, the grocer's unit Woolstar also failed to pay more than A$45,000 in long-service leave entitlements to 36 former employees, the agency said.

"Victorians expect businesses with significant payroll resources to get this stuff right. They'd be disappointed to see a household name facing underpayment allegations," Robert Hortle, the commissioner of Wage Inspectorate Victoria

said

	. 
   
		Under the Victoria Long Service Leave Act 2018, 

employees who have worked continuously with one employer for at least seven years are provided long-service leave.

Woolworths, which has been facing lawsuits and civil proceedings for underpaying its workers, has been struggling to resolve

the issues since 2019

	.  
   
		The agency has also filed similar lawsuits against 

telecom giant Optus, brokerage firm Commsec and lender Bankwest.

($1 = 1.5175 Australian dollars)