Natalie Campbell

Coles and Woolworths estimate they will need to remediate underpaid workers up to $780 million, following a complex judgment in two class actions and regulatory proceedings handed down last week.

A judge has criticised the “unacceptably complex” trial of two regulatory cases and two underpayments class actions against Coles and Woolworths, delivering a ruling whose significance for the workers is not yet clear.

As the Fair Work Commission takes its plan to appoint an administrator to the construction division of the CFMEU to court, a judge has recused himself from hearing the case after acting against the union while at the bar.