In a rare decision on stand-down provisions under the Fair Work Act, the Federal Court has ruled that a contractor failed to comply with its obligation to pay its permanent part-time school cleaners normally during the 16 weeks of school holidays.
A court has found an employer underpaid a worker by more than $230,000 because it "recklessly disguised the true legal nature" of a 20-year-plus employment relationship by classifying him as an independent contractor.
FWC President Iain Ross has asked a full bench to review abandonment of employment clauses in six modern awards after a recent ruling that employers must take the "additional step" of ending the employment relationship when a worker walks off the job.
Anglo Coal is facing a seven-figure backpayment, after the High Court refused to grant it special leave to appeal a finding that a subsidiary breached its enterprise agreement by failing to pay employees correctly when they cashed-out personal/carer's leave.
Leading employment law practitioners have predicted it is only a matter of time before Australia sees a test case similar to UK's recent landmark Uber decision which found drivers were employees, not contractors.
The FWO has used accessorial liability provisions to secure substantial penalties across the chain of command of a frozen yoghurt franchise responsible for underpaying four overseas workers.
A court has refused a Fair Entitlements Guarantee payment to an estranged spouse who was working for her husband when his business collapsed but claimed her marriage effectively ended after he took a second wife two years ago.
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 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.
