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Melbourne 7-Eleven franchise owners in court

The former owners of a Melbourne 7-Eleven store will face court for allegedly deliberately underpaying 12 employees.

Haiyao Xu and his wife Yiran Gu ran the Parkville 7-Eleven and allegedly underpaid workers more than $84,000.

The Fair Work Ombudsman has launched legal action against the couple, whose 7-Eleven store in the CBD is also under investigation.

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The legal action comes after a Four Corners investigation uncovered widespread underpayment of staff within the 7-Eleven organisation’s franchises. 

There have also been allegations that some franchisees forced staff to pay up to $70,000 for a visa.

7-Eleven’s former chairman, billionaire Russ Withers, resigned from the board of the organisation in September, as claims of worker exploitation continued to dog the company.

A Senate inquiry was launched into the convenience store giant and chief executive Warren Wilmot also resigned.

Bob Baily took over the position, according to reports.

“Naturally this is a major decision for me to stand aside as Chairman, however I will continue to be a shareholder and I am determined to make sure the company is in the right hands to move forward,” Mr Withers told Fairfax Media at the time.

In a statement, 7-Eleven have said work to resolve allegations of under paid workers had been ongoing.

– with AAP

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