7-Eleven stores are open seven days a week, 24 hours a day throughout the year which makes wages the most expensive item for franchisees. Many 7-11 stores would either lose money or barely break even if the correct wages were paid. Credit:Glenn Hunt "If you use a casual award, which would be the highest award, [the payroll cost] comes in at about $230,000. And the average gross income generated in the network is significantly higher than that," said 7-Eleven's general manager of operations Natalie Dalbo. Assuming at any one time a store has only one staff member working in it, many would either lose money or barely break even if the correct wages were paid. When interest payments on the loans for the franchise are taken into account, it would be even less. Head Office Share

Under the 7-Eleven model in Australia, head office takes 57 per cent of gross profits from the store, while the franchisee receives 43 per cent of the store takings as 'income'. Out of their income, the franchisee must cover a raft of expenses including payroll. The data shows that often there is little left for the franchisee, even if they work full time in their own store. 7-Eleven owner Russell Withers sat on the AOC for many years. The documents show two stores in Victoria were forecast to make less than $10,000 net profit after wages and other costs in the year to June 2015. One store in Sydney's west is forecast to bring in the paltry return of just over $4000 per annum after wage and other costs while another store in Brisbane is forecast to deliver less than $2000 per year to the franchisee in 'profit'.

The documents also detail the share of income that head office takes. One store in Queensland is forecast to deliver a net profit after wages and other expenses of around $16,000 while the head office net profit is forecast at over $100,000 for the same period. 'Exit' Tipped The worst store in the country is in Sydney's north west. It is estimated to lose $27,000 for the franchisee and a $94,000 loss for head office, with comments next to the financials saying "behaviours address and ongoing focus on standards". The review of that store ends with a one word determination: "Exit".

Several of the worst off stores are also owned by franchisees who are operating more than one store. The revelations on the parlous state of the financial position of many 7-Eleven's stores around Australia follows the joint media investigation's expose on systemic exploitation of workers within the stores. Business Day and Four Corners have since been inundated with emails, letters, readers comments and social media messages by current and former staff and franchisees. Hundreds of concerned Australians have also signed up to a change.org petition urging 7-Eleven Australia to put an end to slavery-like conditions for workers at its stores. The company also issued a statement over the weekend vowing to take "appropriate action" against franchisees that broke the rules.

American Office Talks On Saturday night, the Dallas-based chief operating arm of the convenience store chain, 7-Eleven Inc, was forced to respond to a series of tweets from Australians concerned about the exploitation of workers at the company's Australian arm. "We're aware of the matter here in the USA & do understand that 7-Eleven Australia is currently investigating this matter fully," one tweet read.

BusinessDay and Four Corners have also sent a series of questions through to head office in America. It has yet to respond. As also revealed today, a database containing extracts of on-the-record interviews between franchisees and field investigators from head office show the extent of the wage abuse. It also shows that head office has been aware of systemic wage abuse within its stores for over a year but is still yet to act. Half-Pay Scam A common payroll fraud employed by 7-Eleven franchisees is known as the "half-pay scam", where staff members are paid for only half the hours they work.



Under the half-pay scam, a worker is forced to work for 40 hours a week for an average of $12 per hour against an award rate of $24.69 per hour.