A cleaning company that shamelessly exploited a vulnerable workforce made "inept attempts” to avoid the legal consequences when it claimed its employees were independent contractors, the Federal Court has found.
A labour hire employer "approved" by the federal government under the Seasonal Labour Program must engage an external auditor to check arrangements with 20% of its workforce after an FWO investigation discovered it underpaid visa recruits on a NSW farm.
A court has fined the operators of a restaurant chain almost $300,000 and ordered an independent audit of their IR practices after they used their own "independent market research" to justify underpayments.
Australian authorities are seeking assurances that the owners and operators of a coal carrier detained off the Queensland coast will pay the wages of about 20 crew and give them enough provisions for their journey to China.
The Fair Work Ombudsman is pursuing the NUW for losses incurred by Woolworths as a result of alleged unlawful industrial action last year at two of the retailer's distribution centres in Melbourne.
The director of a security company that knowingly and deliberately underpaid eight casual security guards by more than $20,000 over a three month period must personally repay the employees after what the FWO is hailing as a "precedent-setting" Federal Circuit Court ruling.
The FWO has secured its largest back-payment, after making an enforceable undertaking with a Victorian-based mining services company that requires it to reimburse $2 million to 205 underpaid workers and provide IR training to all managers with HR and payroll responsibilities.
