(Reuters) – Australia’s workplace watchdog said https://www.fairwork.gov.au/about-us/news-and-media-releases/2021-media-releases/october-2021/20211011-cba-litigation-media-release it has sued the country’s largest lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia (OTC:) and its brokerage arm for not paying more than 7,000 workers around A$16.4 million ($12 million) in entitlements.

CBA reported the issues regarding unpaid entitlements in 2010 to Fair Work Ombudsman in early 2019, with almost all of the remediation completed, said the bank in a statement.

The case against CBA comes months after the country’s largest supermarket chain Woolworths Group was sued by the FWO https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/australian-watchdog-sues-woolworths-over-staff-underpayments-2021-06-18 for underpaying staff in a growing list https://www.reuters.com/article/us-australia-wages-factbox-idUSKBN20D0FM of companies caught up in underpayment scandals.

FWO claims CBA didn’t pay employees the required minimum wage and did not provide any top-up funds for any shortfall.

FWO wants penalties to the bank of A$666,000 each for serious breaches, and A$66,000.00 for any non-serious violations.

The bank stated that CBA and CommSec’s brokerage arm have improved their processes and systems since then.

According to the bank, it will continue working with FWO in order to end the proceedings. It also stated that it doesn’t believe additional payments are necessary for employees affected by the proceeding.

($1 = 1.3661 Australian dollars)