Wage Fraud at 7-Eleven: A Critical Article Review & Ethical Stand

This report presents a comprehensive article review analyzing the 7-Eleven wage fraud case in Australia, contrasting two articles with differing viewpoints. The first article, by Adele Ferguson, critically examines 7-Eleven's alleged exploitation of foreign students and wage underpayment, highlighting the company's lack of penalties for not keeping payment records and accusing the head office of a cover-up. It emphasizes the economic and ethical implications of the fraud, pointing out the victimization of both the government and overseas employees. Conversely, the second article, by Rachel Baxendale, takes a supportive stance, downplaying the company's guilt and portraying 7-Eleven as initiating back payments without admitting fault, shifting the blame to franchisees. The review underscores the biased nature of the second article, which seems to provide an opportunity for the company to manipulate public perception. The analysis concludes that the first article presents a critical and evidence-based perspective, while the second appears to defend 7-Eleven's actions.

Running head: ARTICLE REVIEW
ARTICLE REVIEW
Name of the student:
Name of University:
Author Note:

1ARTICLE REVIEW
Article 1.
In the article named ‘7-Eleven head office involved in wage fraud cover- up’ by
Adele Ferguson, has detailed the issue of underpayment problems in 7-Eleven stores of
Australia. The editor here has completely opposed the idea of exploiting the foreign students
who are employed in the stores but did not get as much they expected or committed
(Afr.com, 2018). Here the editor has discussed the different raids conducted at different times
in the 7-Eleven by The Fair Work Ombudsman Australia for six long years and detailed the
investigated wage abuse by the company. Moreover, this article has also pointed out that the
company did not ever paid penalty for not keeping payment records. In this article the editor
has cruelly attacked the company for their massive payroll problems and showed no
sympathy to the company’s policy or business model for employee’s overseas students and
not paying the enough.
In this article Adele Ferguson has taken an aggressive voice to the company
policy and their illegal business outlook for exploiting the students. The editor has acquired
ample knowledge about the actual incident, the reason and the records from The Fairfax
media and Four Corners joint investigation in order to convince the readers that what 7-
Eleven has been doing for last 6 years can never be supported. From the economic
perspective, it is an instance of a huge financial scam where the government as well as the
overseas employees are being victimised. The editor has simply called this actions of 7-
Eleven organisation operating in Australia fraudulent. This is because the company has not
only been cheating with their employees but also falsified their payroll sheets to fraud the tax
department. From the ethical point of view, the editor states that the company heads had
known each and everything of this wage fraud aspect of their franchisee as they closely
monitor each and very functioning of their franchisee. It is quite impossible that the head
quarter does not know anything about this defaming issues which has been continuing g for

2ARTICLE REVIEW
last six years in Australia. It is not the matter that there is no compliance against these
unethical actions of the company. The investigation has found out several compliances
against these measures of the company but no step has been taken since then. The editor has
implicitly demonstrated her disgust of unprincipled exploitation of the students on visas who
were permitted wo wok only 20 hours a week. These overseas students are mad vulnerable by
these unethical strategies by the company to increase their profit without paying their
workers. However, the authority has taken a punitive measure to make the company to back
pay the employees. The editor has nullified the statements that the company did not know the
employment system by referring these statements as excuses and demanded interference of
the regulators as well as politicians in this shadowy labour market of the country.
Therefore, it can be concluded that the stand of the editor about the employment fraud
by 7-Eleven is quite clear from her discussion in this article. Eminent issues which have been
found in the investigations of the medias in the labour market, has been detailed by the author
as evidence of the chain of incidents. The editor has felt disappointed with the revelation of
the fact that the head quarter of the company has tried to cover up this issue of duplicity by
the franchisees. this is the reason why the editor has asked for intrusion of the regulator of the
country so that the issue can be highlighted and more companies which are still involved in
this type of unethical breach can be punished.
Article 2.
The article named ‘The bucks stops with us: 7-Eleven’ by Rachel Baxendale has
taken a supportive perspective from the very beginning (Theaustralian.com.au, 2018). This
particular article does not point out any evidence that captures the alleged exploitation against
the overseas students by 7-Eleven. This unethical behaviour of the company has not been

3ARTICLE REVIEW
acuus3d by the editor rather this article has tried to cover up the guilt of the company by
stating that the company has initiated to pay their employees back thought they do not have
any guilt in this incident. The view that the editor has taken to explain the issue of
underpayment to the oversees employees especially the students on visas, in completely
unethical. In this article the readers get no description of actual incidents rather gets the idea
that 7-Eleven has no information about this fraudulence by their franchisees operating in
Australia.
The editor has supported the unethical measure taken against the employees of the
global renowned company 7-Eleven and provided a biased description so that the Chairman
of the company Russ Withers gets a chance to explain their fair deals and the fact that all the
responsibilities are of their franchisees who are actually recruit and pay the employees. This
article clearly demonstrates that the company has been trying to change the focus of the
readers so that their reputation gets no harm from this reaction. First, the readers get a clear
impression that the editor is blindly supporting the company where it states that 7-Eleven
only had a good and reliable relation with their franchisees and the company is not fully
responsible to take the blame of fraud payment to the employees alone. In addition to this, the
editor has also stated that the interview of the chairman has revealed that the under payment
issue is quite small which evidences the author’s support to the company. From this article it
can be seen that the author has been moved by the statement of Russ Wither which refers to
the toil and experience of the company to grow and reach his position. The author has never
thought of contrasting this view of Russ with the report of ABC and Fairfax media why may
have revealed to actual incident.
Therefore, it can be concluded that the author of this particular article is completely
biased with the company 7-Eleven and gave the chairman a scope to pretend to have done
nothing and state that the company has no connection with the scam. The franchisees rather

4ARTICLE REVIEW
are actually responsible for this case and as partners with such unethical franchisees, 7-
Eleven is also suffering. The article has not related the views of the other stakeholders or the
victims of this process and never referred to the views of the franchises. From the beginning
to the end of this article the author has continued to blame the franchisees for not paying the
employees and clarifying the stand of 7-Eleven to have no connection with this shadowy
business in the Australian labour market. To the readers the ethical stand of the editor is quite
implicit as the article seems to be the opportunity for the company to bias the minds of the
readers. The editor has presented the whole matter in such a way that the readers get a feeling
that 7-Eleven is actually doing good for the victim employees and what the company is
initiating to do, is doing only to save the reputation in the global market.

5ARTICLE REVIEW
References:
Afr.com. (2018). 7-Eleven: Wage abuse claims puts scrutiny on Fair Work response.
Retrieved from http://www.afr.com/business/retail/fmcg/7eleven-wage-abuse-claims-
puts-scrutiny-on-fair-work-response-20150830-gjavxh
Theaustralian.com.au. (2018). Subscribe to The Australian | Newspaper home delivery,
website, iPad, iPhone & Android apps. Retrieved from
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/companies/the-buck-stops-with-us-says-
7eleven-chairman-russ-withers/news-story/c446f2f834f4b72748c630a0944ec6b4