Former Grill’d worker reinstated amid pay dispute; NAB refunds customers $25 million: Midday Roundup

Gourmet burger chain Grill’d has been forced to reinstate a former employee who was sacked after disputing her rate of pay.

Federal Court judge Philip Burchardt has ordered that 20-year-old student Kahlani Pyrah be temporarily reinstated with the company so that she will be able to attend a Fair Work Commission hearing on Thursday, according to The Australian.

However, Pyrah will remain on leave without pay until the outcome of the court trial.

A Grill’d spokesperson welcomed the decision this morning, saying in a statement that it was appropriate for Pyrah not to return to the workplace given the bullying claims made against her.

“We are supportive of the judge’s decision that she should not return to the workplace nor get paid as this is in the interest of the welfare of the team at Grill’d Camberwell,” the spokesperson said.

“This ruling only applies until the original bullying case can be heard on August 24th. We look forward to the case being heard as promptly as possible.”

Last week Grill’d founder Simon Crowe went into damage control mode, announcing the company will immediately renegotiate its workplace agreements in the wake of the court action and media scrutiny.

NAB refunds customers $25 million

The National Australia Bank’s wealth management business will compensate approximately 62,000 customers around $25 million after errors were found in its ‘Navigator Wrap’ platform.

The issues resulted in the incorrect amount of income tax being allocated to customers’ accounts on closure.

The average back-payment to customers is around $400.

ASIC commissioner Greg Tanzer said in a statement the watchdog expects banks to “vigilantly monitor their platforms”.

“Any issues identified should be swiftly and pro-actively reported to ASIC, with a view to promptly compensating customers,” he said.

Meanwhile, the group executive of NAB wealth, Andrew Hagger, said in a statement the bank will write to customers and advisors over the coming weeks to explain what it has done to address the problem.

“These errors date back to 2001 and are centred on processes and controls relating to Navigator – a platform NAB inherited when we acquired Aviva in 2009,” Hagger said.

“Our teams have worked extensively, with oversight by PwC and ASIC, to ensure the right processes, systems and controls are now in place. While this is a legacy issue, we took deliberate steps to make absolutely sure we could get the fairest outcome for our customers.”

“These errors are in no way related to the quality of NAB Wealth’s advice to its customers.”

Shares down on open

Aussie shares are once again trading lower this morning off the back of lacklustre results from international markets over the weekend.

Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, said it appears that jitters in the local sharemarket were not going to ease in the immediate future.

“A weak lead from the US and ongoing nervousness about commodity markets will see stock market trading start the week on a downbeat note,” Spooner said.

“At the end of the day, markets are going to need some indication of supply cuts in commodities like oil and iron ore before investors start getting more confident about the short-term outlook for prices.”

The S&P/ASX 200 benchmark was down 6.2 points to 5559.9 points at 11:23am AEST. On Saturday, the Dow Jones closed 163.39 points lower, down 0.92% to 17,568.53 points.