A judge has ordered more than $200,000 in compensation and penalties against two underpaying former company directors at the same time as roundly rejecting FWO attempts to characterise the dental technician involved as a "vulnerable" visa-holder.
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.
Victorian Attorney-General and workplace safety minister Jill Hennessy says that new legislation to create a criminal offence of industrial manslaughter could extend to some workplace-linked suicides and to diseases such as silicosis.
In a decision that potentially moves the dial on how much the 21-day deadline for unfair dismissal claims can be stretched, the FWC has in discerning no practical consequences granted an extension to a worker who lodged their form 29 minutes after midnight on a Friday.
A peak employer body has lost a lengthy battle to reclaim millions of dollars in payroll tax on the basis of its charity status, a court finding the network's model "primarily focused on serving the self-interest of its members" rather than promoting a stronger economy for everyone.
A large employer's decision to excise union references from its representational rights notice has scuppered its proposed agreement, the FWC observing that employees were effectively being "herded" towards two colleagues who had negotiated the previous deal.
A company "motivated by malice" when it forged documents to cut the leave balance of a chief operating officer it perceived as "a thorn in its side" has been ordered to pay $250,000 in penalties and unpaid entitlements.
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 Registered Organisations Commission has told the AWU it appears to have breached it statutory reporting obligations on its membership in each consecutive year from 2009 until 2017.
The Morrison Government is looking to establish a national system of labour hire regulation rather than having "multiple various schemes" across different jurisdictions, Senate Estimates hearings have been told.
