Large corporates and universities accounted for almost two-thirds of the $509 million in unpaid wages and entitlements recovered by the FWO in 2022-23 on behalf of more than 250,000 workers, the workplace watchdog revealed today.
CFMMEU leader Michael Ravbar has been skewered with his second personal penalty in four months for "blatantly" breaching entry rights when delaying work at a major project to promote an industry super fund during unauthorised early morning barbecues.
A FWO bid to piggyback a compliance notice breach case with underpayment orders has been upended by a court, which observed that merging the two pathways would "undermine" the Fair Work Act's integrity.
The FWO is prosecuting franchisor Bakers Delight for failing to prevent its franchisees from underpaying workers, after the head office discovered the wage theft and failed to address it.
A court has ordered an employer to pay more than $200,000 in compensation and penalties for its "deliberate" sacking of two delegates, finding that the dismissals signalled to other employees that engaging with unions could have "serious consequences".
Victoria's Labour Hire Authority is prosecuting a labour hire company for allegedly sourcing farm workers through unlicensed suppliers, as part of a crackdown on the horticulture and farm sectors.
A court has limited to about $100,000 the fines it has imposed on an underpaying, now-shuttered labour hire company after accepting that it unintentionally broke the law and that its embarrassed founder is "appropriately remorseful".
Workers s-xually harassed before the Secure Jobs, Better Pay changes came into effect in March will have to choose whether to omit complaints for conduct that occurred before that time to use the new provisions, or "make a potentially less advantageous application" using the old provisions, according to an employment law expert.
In an early test of Secure Jobs changes that outlaw pay secrecy mandates, a former casual sales assistant at a landmark Melbourne bookshop has begun legal action in the Federal Circuit Court, alleging it no longer offered her shifts after she disclosed a pay rise and backpay to her fellow workers.
The Federal Court has today reversed a judge's finding that a CFMMEU organiser directed a "disgusting" homophobic slur towards a construction project's safety advisor, while it also axed a personal payment order against him.
