The owner of a number of Spar franchises who has been ordered to pay R12m to his staff for violating labour laws says he is being "victimised".

Chris Giannacopolous was found to have made illegal deductions from his employees and to have failed to issue them with contracts, among others.

The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) ordered Giannacopolous to pay workers R11,935,478 more than a week ago for failing to comply with labour laws.

The CCMA issued the awards after employees from eight stores owned by the Giannacopolous family group lodged complaints with the department of labour.

They alleged that the company also hired illegal foreigners to exploit them.

The Giannacopolous family group said while Spar has 970 stores in South Africa no other stores apart from those belonging to the family have been constantly audited for labour violations.

The family was also accused of selling expired goods in its stores. It denied the claims and took the matter to court.

Giannacopolous's lawyer Marry Erlank said it is obvious that the group is being "unjustly victimised".

"We have now applied to the labour court to set aside the awards on review because they are defective and untrue," said Erlank.

The Giannacopolous family group is set to hear in two weeks if the court will rule in their favour in another battle to terminate their membership of the Spar Guild.

The family owns more than 41 stores across the country, 10 of which were found by the CCMA to have failed to give workers leave in line with labour laws.

The Spar Guild brought an application to court to try and cut ties with the Giannacopolous family group for bringing the retail chain store's name into disrepute.

Yesterday, Spar northern region and Spar Guild managing director Desmond Borrageiro said the matter would be heading to court next week.