A judge has come down hard on a settlement in class actions against supermarket chain Romeo’s, saying group members had been kept in the dark and the costs to be paid to the plaintiffs’ firm did not add up.
A class action settlement with Woolworths which “troubled” a Federal Court judge has been abandoned, with the lead applicants resuming their bid to intervene in a parallel proceeding brought by the Fair Work Ombudsman against the supermarket giant.
A Federal Court judge has reconsidered her plan to dispense with a hearing to weigh a $1.55 million settlement of two class actions that allege supermarket chain Romeo’s underpaid hundreds of workers at stores in NSW and South Australia.
A judge overseeing two class actions against Romeo’s has ditched what has become the commonplace hearing in weighing a settlement of the cases, but experts say approval applications in group proceedings should ideally be heard in open court.
Clothing chain Cotton On Group and jeweller Lovisa are the latest targets of potential underpayments class actions for allegedly failing to pay employees for extra hours worked.
If evidence were needed that courts are not rubber stamping class action settlements, the scrutiny of multi-million dollar agreements in 2021 is proof positive that judicial oversight of representative proceedings is robust.
Saying it will only benefit the law firm and lead applicants, a judge has refused to approve a settlement in an underpayments class action against supermarket giant Woolworths, which would see no payout to employees.
Unilodge Australia faces a potential class action alleging the student housing agency shortchanged staff by paying them under the wrong award.
Romeo’s will pay $1.55 million to registered group members as part of a settlement of two class actions alleging the supermarket chain underpaid staff.
Two law firms are seeking court approval to drop class actions brought on behalf of allegedly misclassified casual coal miners, in light of a High Court decision that “radically” decreased their chances of success.