The receiver restructuring Dick Smith with a view to selling the troubled electrical retailer says the company has been underpaying workers for as long as six years.

Ferrier Hodgson said on Thursday it has discovered that as many as 3,200 current and former employees have been underpaid their annual leave loading entitlements, possibly dating back to 2010.

The incorrect application of the relevant industrial award is estimated to have added another $2 million to Dick Smith’s outstanding liabilities.

Administrator McGrathNicol told a creditors meeting last month it had estimated employee liabilities of about $15 million, which included long-service leave and accrued holiday pay but not any potential redundancy payments.

There could be further ugly discoveries to come, with Ferrier Hodgson still trawling the Dick Smith’s accounts and reviewing other historical entitlement calculations to make sure they have been correctly paid.

The receiver said the underpayment only applies to Dick Smith’s Australian employees and any additional entitlements it identifies will rank as priority claims ahead of secured creditors.

Dick Smith has also shed another 22 jobs at its support office in western Sydney, taking to about 200 the number of positions cut by the receiver since it took over running of the distressed company in January.

“The ongoing restructuring of the business is a necessary step in creating a leaner organisation going forward while our discussions with interested parties continue,” receiver James Stewart said.

One of those to go is chief financial officer Michael Potts, who has left the company with immediate effect, following chief executive Nick Abboud out the door.

Mr Abboud departed last month.

Former Woolworths executive Bert van der Welde will replace Mr Potts on an interim basis.

Ferrier Hodgson had already shut the doors on Dick Smith’s 27 concession in David Jones department stores, with the loss of up to 181 jobs.

Customers who had bought gift cards or placed deposits on goods are on a lengthy list of unsecured creditors owed $250 million, with secured creditors owed another $140 million.

Reference: https://nz.finance.yahoo.com/news/dick-smith-underpaying-workers-021903109.html