Union officials can't use their right to enter premises for discussions with members to gather signatures on petitions or "secure a commitment to a particular course of action in the future", the Federal Court has found, ruling in favour of an employer that blocked access for an organiser who sought workers' backing for a majority support determination.
As ROC staff await their transfer to the FWC, the watchdog has found that a former AEU ACT branch secretary did not improperly use his position, while it is also pursuing the AWU and a CFMMEU mining and energy division Queensland district leader in the Federal Court.
The Victorian Supreme Court has fined a former labour hire company and its director almost half a million dollars for failing to disclose that he had criminal convictions for offences including drug trafficking and theft.
A court has fined the director of a Japanese restaurant almost $25,000 after finding that he "reverse engineered" pay records provided to the FWO and asked a shortchanged employee not to "sell me out".
Wage Inspectorate Victoria has laid Australia's first criminal wage theft charges against a business and its owner, while warning it intends to bring further matters to court.
A Federal Court judge has while fining a franchisor almost $500,000 for deliberately underpaying Taiwanese interns speculated that a recent High Court ruling will impel more parties to agree on penalties rather than go to trial, an "unfortunate by-product" being fewer judgments offering "yardsticks" for future cases.
A court has declined to take the "extreme" step of throwing out a general protections case with a "long and troubled history" brought by a former FSU employee against the union, its national secretary and a state leader.
The ROC has resolved to seek penalties against the AWU in the Federal Court, after an 18-month investigation concluded it had committed 27,000 breaches over nine years of obligations to keep accurate membership records and "significantly overstated" the real numbers.
The ACCC has secured a maximum $750,000 fine against the CFMMEU for breaching competition laws when it pressured a major construction company to boycott a non-union subcontractor.
An Employsure manager is suing the IR advisory service for deciding against appointing her to a more senior role that she sought while on parental leave, accusing it of discriminating against her because of her pregnancy and impending family responsibilities.