The Fair Work Ombudsman has begun the first proceedings using tougher new provisions relating to providing false and misleading documents during an investigation, Senate Estimates hearings have been told this week.
The construction watchdog is investigating whether Master Builders Tasmania charged induction fees for more than 120 Chinese plasterers in order to work on a major project in Hobart.
A lawyer representing five labour hire fruit pickers who withdrew an underpayments test case after winning a $150,000 settlement says he would welcome a "global settlement" for other claimants, while the employer accuses the NUW of funding the litigation in an effort to extend its patch.
An asylum seeker allegedly sacked after complaining about his pay for 91-hour weeks as a Woolworths trolley collector has been allowed to file a late adverse action claim, the FWC finding his application had "considerable merit".
In a significant decision on adverse publicity as a factor in setting penalties, a judge has heavily discounted fines sought against an underpaying Melbourne restaurant chain while criticising the FWO's practice of naming and shaming employers before their day in court.
The voluntary administrators of food delivery business Foodora Australia Pty Ltd say the process will give the company "essential breathing space", which includes a statutory stay on landmark legal proceedings testing whether its riders are employees or contractors.
A restaurant that required a chef to work more than 20 unpaid hours a week and summarily sacked him when he sought to pare it back and take leave was "blissfully unaware" of its award obligations, the FWC has found.
The AWU's Hair Stylists Australia has deployed its first paid organiser to tackle the "widespread cultural problem" of underpayments as the FWO pursues another hairdressing industry scalp on behalf of a teenage apprentice short-changed $14,500.
In a ruling criticising the practice of diplomats recruiting domestic workers from overseas, the FWC has ordered Iraq's consul-general to pay $20,000 to a Filipina live-in nanny dismissed after raising concerns about her entitlements.
The CFMMEU has begun Federal Court action that seeks to hold John Holland and CPB Contracting vicariously liable for subcontractors' alleged underpayment of wages and entitlements on Canberra's light rail project, with the union seeking to recover $700,000 and impose penalties.