The FWC has varied a construction supply company's newly-approved deal after the ABCC objected to its consultation clause, maintaining it was inconsistent with the building code's freedom of association requirements.
A restaurant unfairly dismissed a 457-visaholder cook who had an imposter sit his English competency test and secretly recorded conversations after reporting it for alleged exploitation, the FWC has held.
Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker says the number of large corporations under investigation for underpayment has risen to 70, forcing the agency to redeploy staff while also having to deal with a spike in inquiries due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
An FWC full bench has quashed a decision to reduce a $12,000 retrenchment payout to zero, ruling that the Fair Work Act's "incapacity to pay" provisions don't apply when the entitlement arises from a source such as an award.
IT giant IBM has backpaid about 1650 workers more than $12.3 million after it failed to provide award entitlements to workers it regarded as "salaried professionals", while it faces a "contrition payment" of at least $676,000 under an enforceable undertaking with the workplace watchdog.
The Melbourne Magistrates Court has fined the organiser of a fashion event for failing to obtain work permits for more than 100 children aged 18 months to 14 years.
A federal court judge has in fining an underpaying juice shop operator almost $35,000 flatly rejected "cultur[al] differences" as a mitigating factor, lamenting instead the frequency with which ethnically diverse employers exploit their own communities.
In a significant decision on FWO investigative powers under recent laws stiffening protections for vulnerable workers, the Federal Court has rejected a franchisor's bid to have declared void a notice to produce documents created before the legislation came into force.
The FWO has confirmed it is now investigating three universities after the University of Sydney became the latest to reveal multimillion-dollar underpayments, while the NTEU blames mass casualisation for creating the conditions for "wage theft".
In levelling a $22,440 penalty against the former owner-operator of a labour-hire company that underpaid 80 workers on a Queensland mushroom farm more than $78,000, a court has noted the FWO did not seek compensation.
