Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci will forgo his $2.6 million short-term bonus this year.Credit:Janie Barrett
Mr Cairns will reduce his fee by 20 per cent. Having earned $670,000 in directors fees in the past financial year,that could see him take home as much as $134,000 less this year.
In October,Woolworths revealed it had underpaid nearly 6000 of its salaried employees as much as $300 million over a 10-year period,due to inconsistencies between the company's enterprise agreement and the general retail award.
One of the largest underpayment cases to ever become public,the scandal saw Woolworths join the ranks of other high-profile retailers found to have underpaid their staff,such as 7-Eleven and Super Retail Group.
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At the time,Mr Banducci indicated he"fully expected"the underpayment case to impact his bonuses,and on Wednesday he acknowledged it was"the right thing to do".
"As a group,we have let many of our salaried team members down. And our priority right now is to ensure that they receive the money they are owed as quickly as possible,"Banducci and Cairns said in a joint statement.
The company intends to finalise its review of the underpayment scandal by the end of the 2020 financial year,with further updates to come at its half-year result in February.