The former "right-hand" man to a Gold Coast tobacco mogul who styles himself as "the candyman" has won $90,000 in penalties and 10% of his costs for an adverse action case he won two years ago in which a court found the employer "fabricated" a reason to dismiss him.
The High Court has today granted the Morrison Government and a major food manufacturer special leave to appeal a contentious decision on calculating sick and carers leave, claimed to potentially cost employers an extra $2 billion a year.
Woolworths claims a class action seeking underpayments of $300 million more than it self-disclosed is "without merit", given it has already committed to fully repay any shortfall.
The Senate has approved a wide-ranging inquiry into wage and superannuation "theft" by employers, despite the Morrison Government arguing it is not needed.
The FWC has upheld the dismissal of an Energy Australia employee who told one colleague she could not get pregnant due to her sexuality and suggested to another that he was related to Deepak Chopra because of his Indian descent.
The Fair Work Ombudsman has put companies and boards "on notice" after Woolworths revealed that 5,700 salaried employees at its supermarkets and metro stores have been underpaid by up to $300 million.
Australia's two largest employer groups have rejected the Morrison Government's in-principle commitment to introduce criminal offences for the worst cases of underpayment.
Hospo Voice and Maurice Blackburn are urging the FWO to investigate claims that Rockpool Dining Group might have underpaid workers by $10 million and falsified finger-scanning payroll data, but the company says it has "no evidence" of any group-wide manipulation to intentionally underpay.
The FWO is prosecuting the operators of a Sydney restaurant for allegedly underpaying a skilled worker on a SubClass 457 visa by more than $150,000 while they maintained "overall control" of his bank account.
Rockpool has hit back at a chef's claims that he was underpaid and expected to work extreme hours while on an annualised salary arrangement, maintaining that it is up to him to produce accurate records and establish any sum allegedly owed.