The National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) share price is edging higher this afternoon despite reports of another staffing pay scandal. The Australian reported today the banking giant is about to face legal action from the Finance Sector Union (FSU) over the underpayment of full-time staff.
At the time of writing, shares in the banks are trading at $26.91, up 0.11%. At the same time, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is 0.13% higher.
Let's take a closer look at today's news and how it might be affecting the NAB share price.
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NAB and FSU headed to court
In what The Australian says could be Australia's largest underpayment claim, the FSU and NAB are heading to court to battle over "hundreds of millions of dollars" in alleged staff underpayments.
NAB has previously had to repay part-time and casual staff $55 million in compensation from underpayment claims. According to a source quoted in the paper, this case could affect many more people.
The FSU claims said senior staff were working in excess of 50 or 60 hours a week, well above their contracted 40 hours per week.
NAB countered by saying senior staff were not paid for their hours worked, but rather "modelling against the banking, finance and insurance award where relevant and market analysis for equivalent full-time roles," as quoted in The Australian.
According to the report, the FSU will soon begin legal proceedings in Federal Court.
NAB share price snapshot
The NAB share price has increased 61.1% over the past 12 months but is the second-worst performer of the big four banks over that time. Taking an extended look at the banking industry, Nab shares have performed better than Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) and Suncorp Group Ltd (ASX: SUN) in the past 12 months, but worse than Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd (ASX: BEN).
The NAB share price reached a 52-week high of $27.84 earlier this month and has since fallen 3.7%. Back in 2017, shares in the bank were valued at above $30 each. They have not reached that level since then.
NAB has a market capitalisation of $88.4 billion.
