'Underpaid, overworked' managers sue Rebel Sports

Retailer Rebel Sport could be forced to pay significant compensation to thousands of managers who claim they were underpaid and forced to work for free.

The Super Retail Group franchise was hit by a Federal Court class action in Wednesday claiming it contravened the retail industry award by failing to properly pay its staff.

In the Adero Law-led lawsuit, Rebel is being pursued for compensation as well as penalties.

"Everyday Australians are doing it tough with today's cost of living pressures and the last thing they can afford is to be underpaid by their employer," Adero Law principal Corinne Armanini told AAP.

An estimated 2000 employees could have been affected by Rebel's alleged contraventions, she said.

Matthew Ridgewell is leading the class action.

He worked as a full-time store manager in the ACT's Woden branch from July 2019 until he moved on in November 2024.

The father of three told AAP that he had raised concerns about his unrealistic workload but was told this was part of being a leader.

"It was a slap in the face to be asked to do all this extra work and not be fairly compensated for that work, especially from a business which could afford to do so," he said.

In the class action pleadings, Mr Ridgewell says he was required to attend his store ahead of his scheduled start time to disable the alarms, prepare the tills and conduct the team huddle before opening.

He says he was also required to stay for longer after his scheduled end time to serve final customers, clean the store, count the cash and escort staff out.

He claims he was not paid for this overtime.

Rebel has also been accused of failing to pay for work conducted on managers' days off, including completing payroll, preparing rosters, and taking calls and emails from staff.

The firm also forced staff to work through unpaid rest and meal breaks, breached the terms of the award by making managers work six days or more consecutively, the statement of claim says.

It allegedly did not fully pay penalty rates for weekends, public holidays and night work.

The retailer engaged in systematic and serious employment contraventions by keeping misleading records about employee overtime hours, the court documents say.

It ought to have known of its obligations, they continue.

Anyone who worked in a management role from May 2020 until the class action was filed will be eligible to join the class action.

Super Retail Group have been approached for comment.

The Fair Work Ombudsman has also filed proceedings in the Federal Court against Super Retail Group over alleged underpayments of more than $1 million.

That lawsuit targets conduct at Rebel Sport as well as Super Cheap Auto, BCF, Ray's Outdoors and Macpac.

A 10-day hearing has been scheduled for December.