Spar franchise owner ordered to pay R12m to employees after CCMA ruling

Harry Giannacopoulos was given 14 days to make approximately R12 million in payments to his employees after he allegedly violated multiple labour laws, reports TimesLIVE.

The Giannacopoulos group, which owns 22 Spar supermarket franchises and 21 Tops bottle stores in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, faces eight arbitration awards granted by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) according to the labour department.

READ: Business as usual for Spar stores closed after owners accused of bringing brand ‘into disrepute’

The department said the arbitration awards compelled the owner to pay the employees an amount of approximately R11,935,478, however, if he failed to comply, he will be forced to pay an additional accrued interest.

“Failure to comply with the awards will result with the respondent having to pay accrued interest in terms of section 75 of Basic Conditions of Employment Act,” the department said.

This comes after the group appealed the closure of its stores last year, which was overturned.

Spar divisional managing director Desmond Borrageira, said a decision was taken by The Spar Guild of Southern Africa Limited “to terminate the membership of the stores which fall within the Giannacopoulos Group”, claiming it was “competing with businesses of retail members and bringing the Spar brand into disrepute”.

“On investigation, all the stores which happened to be violating the labour laws were found to be owned by the Giannacoupolous Group,” the department said.

Issues raised in terms of labour law violations included the failure by the employer to issue employees with contracts; long working hours without overtime compensation; Sunday pay, public holidays and leave not granted according to the law; the hiring of undocumented foreigners; and illegal deductions.

The department conducted inspections at 10 stores including Spar Orchards, Dely Road, Doornport Spar, Montana Spar, Wierda Spar, Silverton Spar, Zambezi Super Spar, Rietfontein Spar, Silverplace Spar and Safari Spar in Rustenburg.

The supermarkets have 565 employees in total.

“The relentless work that is carried out by our inspectors is contributing towards making a difference in the lives of the vulnerable workforce,” said the labour department’s inspector-general, Aggy Moiloa.

“I exhort employers to make it their business to respect and comply with the labour laws of our country.”

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