Woolworths
Harm on record. Has recent confirmed harm to workers that it hasn't put right.
Last researched 2 November 2026 · 13 sources
Australia's largest supermarket chain, owned by Woolworths Group.
In 2025, a court found Woolworths' salaried store managers weren't paid their full award entitlements, such as overtime, in each pay period.
Also worth knowing
Woolworths has only partly put this right.
Know something we've missed? Send evidence. Represent Woolworths? Send a right of reply.
Compare Woolworths with another brand
Why it's graded Harm on record
- Not met: Meets 3 of 6 Good requirements.
- Holds the grade back: It doesn't show that workers are paid a living wage, and isn't certified as working towards one. On Track needs at least one of these.
- Holds the grade back: It's Harm on record because of a serious confirmed problem from the last 5 years that it has only partly put right: unpaid or underpaid wages, last recorded in 2025.
- Checks its own supply chain. Woolworths looks for problems in its own supply chain and publishes what it finds. It found unpaid or underpaid wages in 2025 and unsafe conditions in 2025 and is fixing them, so they don't count against the grade. Another problem on its record counts against the grade: unpaid or underpaid wages in 2025. They're listed below under Confirmed issues.
Good requirements 3 of 6
- Not met: Pays a living wage, or holds a strong fair-pay certificationLiving wage: no evidence
- Met: Respects worker rights
- Met: Supply chain independently audited or certified, or at least 80% made in countries with strong labour standards
- Met: No child or forced labour findings or links
- Not met: Names the factories or farms that make its products, or is fully certified by a scheme that holds and audits that list
- Not met: Farm and labour hire checks published, and high-risk ingredients (palm oil and tomato paste and canned tomatoes) traced or certified where they're a major part of its rangeNot traced or certified: palm oil
Red flags 1
- Red flag: No evidence it pays a living wage
Stars it would earn as Good
None yet. Stars only show on Good companies. About stars
Where it's made
Woolworths names some of the countries it makes in: Australia, New Zealand and China. The rest is shown as where own-brand and fresh food is usually grown or made.
| Country | Share | Worker rights | Legal minimum wage | Forced labour risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 70% | Strong protections | About a living wage | Low |
| China | Not given | No guarantee of rights | Below a living wage | Moderate |
| New Zealand | Not given | Strong protections | About a living wage | Low |
| ThailandUsual for the industry | 1% | No guarantee of rights | Below a living wage | Moderate |
| ItalyUsual for the industry | 1% | Strong protections | Close to a living wage | Low |
| VietnamUsual for the industry | 1% | Systematic violations | Well below a living wage | Moderate |
| MalaysiaUsual for the industry | 1% | No guarantee of rights | Below a living wage | Moderate |
| IndiaUsual for the industry | 1% | No guarantee of rights | Well below a living wage | High |
Evidence
What we found
- Modern slavery statement
- Has the farms, meatworks and labour hire firms behind its fresh and own-brand food checked independently, and publishes what the checks found and what workers were repaid
- Independent social audits of all its main factories
- Doesn't show where its palm oil comes from. Palm oil is linked to forced and child labour on some Malaysian and Indonesian plantations, so it can't be graded Good until it traces or certifies it.
- Uses tomato paste and canned tomatoes in only a few products and doesn't show where they come from. That doesn't count against it for Good, but the "Open supply chain" star needs all of them traced, certified or upcycled.
Research notes Woolworths says about 96% of its fresh fruit and vegetables and all fresh meat sourced through Greenstock are Australian, about 81% of its own-brand food factories are in Australia or New Zealand, and about 78% of its non-food own brand comes from China; it doesn't name its suppliers. It requires social audits under approved schemes (Fair Farms, SMETA, GRASP and others), publishes what they find and what workers were repaid, and is bringing store cleaning and trolley collection in-house. Its palm oil policy accepts RSPO mass balance, so most palm oil isn't traced to the mill. Its own-brand coffee, tea, chocolate and seafood are graded in separate Labour Lens records, including a 2015 forced labour finding at a Thai Union prawn supplier.
What independent sources say
| Source | Result | Details |
|---|---|---|
| KnowTheChain | Listed | Woolworths Group scored 56 out of 100 and ranked 1st of 45 companies in the 2026 KnowTheChain Food & Beverage Benchmark (average 15); it does not publish a first-tier supplier list. View |
| Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (World Benchmarking Alliance) | Listed | Woolworths Group scored 77 out of 100 in the 2026 Corporate Human Rights Benchmark, above the 53.7 average. View |
| Australian Modern Slavery Register | Listed | Woolworths Group Limited lodges a joint modern slavery statement covering Woolworths Supermarkets; the FY25 statement reports 1,085 supplier audits, critical problems found and about $506,000 repaid to workers. View |
| Business & Human Rights Resource Centre | Problem found | Reports Woolworths' 2025 evidence to a NSW inquiry that housing for migrant workers at a Queensland supplier was 'appalling and unliveable', and its suppliers' repayments to meat and horticulture workers. View |
| US Department of Labor goods lists | Listed | The US Department of Labor's 2024 list names tomato products, toys, Christmas decorations and garments from China, and palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia, as made with forced labour; Woolworths sells own-brand tomato products, uses palm oil and makes most non-food own brand in China. View |
Confirmed issues 5
Only confirmed problems are listed, and old ones drop off after 10 to 15 years. A problem the company has fully put right no longer counts against it, and nor does one it finds and is fixing itself. How problems are counted
| Last recorded | What happened | Made amends? |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | The Federal Court found in September 2025 ([2025] FCA 1092), in cases brought by the Fair Work Ombudsman and a class action, that Woolworths failed to keep accurate records and to pay salaried store managers their full award entitlements in each pay period from 2015 to 2019, in a ruling covering about 27,700 Coles and Woolworths staff (SBS, 2025). Source · archived copy | PartlyWoolworths had paid about $487 million to salaried staff by January 2026 and booked $710 million more in FY26; payment of the balance and final court orders hadn't been reported by August 2026. |
| 2025 | Woolworths' FY25 modern slavery statement reports that its investigations and audits of the contractors who clean its stores and collect trolleys found underpayment, with about $228,800 paid to some 31 workers (Woolworths Group, 2025). Source · archived copyFound and being fixed by the company Not counted against the grade while the company is actively fixing it, because it found and published it itself. | YesAbout $228,800 was repaid to 31 workers; suppliers and subcontractors were removed or barred from sites, and Woolworths is bringing cleaning and trolley collection in-house. |
| 2025 | Woolworths' FY25 audits found 108 critical problems at 55 Australian fruit and vegetable supplier sites, about a fifth affecting migrant workers mainly through gaps in labour hire monitoring, and found underpayment and recruitment fees charged to workers across its supply chain (Woolworths Group, 2025). Source · archived copyFound and being fixed by the company Not counted against the grade while the company is actively fixing it, because it found and published it itself. | YesWoolworths reports about $506,000 repaid to over 200 supply chain workers in FY25, including $115,000 to 148 Australian farm workers and $85,000 in recruitment fees to 14 meat workers. |
| 2025 | Woolworths told a NSW parliamentary inquiry in June 2025 that its inspection of housing provided by a labour hire firm to migrant workers at a Queensland supplier found conditions 'appalling and unliveable' (Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, 2025). Source · search the archiveFound and being fixed by the company Not counted against the grade while the company is actively fixing it, because it found and published it itself. | PartlyWoolworths took the problem up with the labour hire company; no further remedy for the workers was reported. |
| 2020 | After a 2016 Fair Work Ombudsman inquiry found trolley collectors at Woolworths stores paid as little as $10 an hour, the Ombudsman's report on Woolworths' 2017-2020 compliance deed found contractors had underpaid 125 trolley collectors a total of $914,661 (Fair Work Ombudsman, 2021). Source · search the archivePut right The company has put this right for the people affected, so it no longer counts against the grade. | YesUnder a deed with the Fair Work Ombudsman, $914,661 was back-paid to 125 trolley collectors and 306 sites were audited; the Ombudsman said Woolworths fulfilled its commitment. |
Unconfirmed reports
Credible reports that haven't been confirmed by a regulator, completed investigation or the company. They're shown for your information and don't affect the grade.
- Court documents filed by liquidators say at least 20 workers supplied by the labour hire firm BCS Green Corp to Corrigan's Farm in Casey, Victoria, which grows salad vegetables for Coles and Woolworths, are owed more than $260,000 for work in December 2023; Woolworths says it was told the money had been paid, which the workers dispute (ABC, 2026). Source
- A Shine Lawyers class action filed in December 2025 alleges a Woolworths subsidiary underpaid South Australian staff for Sunday work; Woolworths is contesting it (HCAMag, 2025). Source
Sources and actions
Sources 13
Show all 13 sources
- Woolworths Group (Ethical Advisers' Co-op) · search the archive · Corporate Human Rights Benchmark 2026 score 77/100 (average 53.7); KnowTheChain 2026 56/100; 2016 Fair Work Ombudsman trolley inquiry found pay as low as $10 an hour and non-compliance at 79% of sites
- KnowTheChain 2026 Food & Beverage scorecard: Woolworths Group Limited · search the archive · 56/100, ranked 1st of 45; no first-tier supplier list; Employer Pays no-fee policy; 73 grievances in FY24, 45% in horticulture
- Woolworths says inspection found appalling living conditions for migrants at supplier (Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, 2 Jun 2025) · search the archive · Woolworths' human rights lead said housing at a Queensland labour hire supplier was 'appalling and unliveable'; suppliers repaid $50,000 to meat workers and $48,000 to horticulture workers after NSW audits
- Woolworths Group Modern Slavery Statement FY25 (Australian Modern Slavery Register) · archived copy · About 203,000 team members; 2,014 own-brand supplier sites in 48 countries; about 81% of own-brand food manufacturing sites in Australia and New Zealand; non-food own brand about 78% China; about 96% of fresh fruit and vegetables and 100% of Greenstock fresh meat Australian
- Woolworths trolley collectors Proactive Compliance Deed final report (Fair Work Ombudsman) · search the archive · Deed from September 2017 for three years; 306 sites audited; $914,661 in underpayments to 125 trolley collectors identified and back-paid; Woolworths fulfilled its commitment
- List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor (US Department of Labor, 2024) · search the archive · 2024 list of goods produced with child or forced labour, including tomato products from China and palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia
- Woolworths and Coles failed record-keeping obligations as underpayment saga continues (SBS News, 5 Sep 2025) · archived copy · Federal Court found Woolworths and Coles failed to keep accurate records of salaried managers' hours; about 27,700 employees to be remediated; Woolworths case covers June 2015 to September 2019
- Woolworths profit nearly halves as pay issues persist (Inside Retail, Feb 2026) · search the archive · Woolworths had completed $487 million in payments to salaried team members by 4 January 2026 and held a remaining provision of $786 million subject to the resolution of legal proceedings
- Woolworths FY26 profit grows as Big W returns, but underpayments weigh (Inside Retail, 26 Aug 2026) · search the archive · Additional $710 million pre-tax provision in FY26 after the Federal Court ruling on underpaid salaried store team leaders
- Workers on Melbourne farm supplying Woolworths, Coles chase unpaid wages (ABC News, 15 Jan 2026) · search the archive · Liquidators' court documents say at least 20 workers supplied to Corrigan's Farm by BCS Green Corp are owed more than $260,000; licence cancelled March 2024; Woolworths says it was told the money was paid
- Woolworths faces another class action over alleged underpayments (HCAMag, 15 Dec 2025) · search the archive · Shine Lawyers class action alleging underpaid Sunday work in South Australia; Woolworths will contest it
- Australia's largest underpayment case: what you need to know now (BDO, 27 Nov 2025) · search the archive · Court ruled full award entitlements must be paid each pay period; compensation and penalties unresolved; the Fair Work Ombudsman to seek orders requiring the underpayments to be fixed
Published by Woolworths or its owner
- Woolworths Group Policy POL.022: Palm Oil for Own Brand Food and Formulated Non-Food Products (V7, Sep 2023) · search the archive · Own-brand food and non-food products use palm oil; certified RSPO or ISCC supply through mass balance, segregated or identity preserved models; segregated required only for Macro
Company details
- Owned by
- Woolworths Group
- Headquarters
- Australia
- Employees
- About 203,000
- Last researched
- 2 November 2026
- Cite this page
- Labour Lens, "Is Woolworths ethical? Labour rating", https://www.labourlens.net/brand/woolworths, last researched 2 November 2026, accessed [date].
- Method
- Researched with AI assistance against published rules. How we check · What Harm on record means
Other supermarkets brands
Nothing we've rated in supermarkets is better than Lacks transparency yet.
Something missing or wrong?
Grades are opinions based on the evidence listed here. Send us evidence, or a right of reply if you represent Woolworths.