Working for free, no lunch breaks: Lovisa hit with class action lawsuit

Lovisa has been accused of forcing hundreds of young women to work for free before and after their rostered hours and during lunch breaks in a class action lawsuit that more than 300 people have signed up for.

The Australian jewellery retailer, which has nearly 200 stores nationwide and about 600 more internationally, was served legal documentation by employment class action law firm Adero Law last week that named three former Lovisa employees – Olivia Iob, Ayesha Kelso and Finn Wesley (also known as Vivian Wesley) – as applicants.

Other alleged breaches of workers’ rights included paying them the wrong base rate and failing to provide rosters on time, according to documents.

More than 300 former staff members who worked for Lovisa between 2018 and 2024 are alleging the youth accessories chain asked them to arrive at the store and perform duties 15 to 20 minutes before their rostered shifts and to stay back up to half an hour after their shifts ended to clean up and balance the till. They were not paid overtime, they claim.

Staff were also allegedly asked to attend training, but were expected to do so in their own personal time. Proper rest breaks weren’t granted, with staff – some of whom were rostered in stores on their own – expected to be “on call” and continue working throughout their lunch breaks to deliver “exceptional customer experience”.

According to court documents, the company occasionally required Iob, Kelso and some other workers to travel to other stores more than 50 kilometres away without compensating them the 82¢ per kilometre travelled they were entitled to.

Iob was allegedly paid the wrong base rate of $21.65 an hour instead of the correct $24.25 an hour between mid-January and early February 2020. Other allegations include staff being asked by regional managers to purchase and during their shifts wear a headband, earrings, necklace and bracelet sold by Lovisa, dubbed a “Lovisa High-5”, without reimbursing them.

The jewellery chain also allegedly enforced a strict policy on footwear; court documents detail that Wesley was told by her regional manager she could not wear laces, zippers, sneakers, boots or sports shoes during her shift, but had to wear “women’s shoes” instead.

“[Regional manager] Ms Saracho told Ms Wesley that the sneakers were not compliant with [Lovisa’s] policies and that she will be given 15 minutes to leave the store and purchase women’s shoes in place of the sneakers that she wore,” stated Adero Law’s statement of claim.