In its pursuit of a former economics professor for allegedly paying his employees as little as $10 an hour, the FWO is also seeking an injunction to restrain him from future breaches.
An FWO report released hot on the heels of Caltex's announcement that it will exit franchising has revealed non-compliance at 76% of audited sites and accuses the oil giant of contributing to breaches by failing to put effective systems in place, despite warnings.
In a landmark ruling, the Federal Court has found today that a Spotless subsidiary failed to meet its obligations under the NES to provide notice and severance pay to employees – some with 15 to 20 years service – when it lost a longstanding services contract at a major shopping complex.
The Federal Circuit Court has found a dental practice that entered into a sham contract to help an international student obtain a 457 visa breached multiple IR laws and underpaid her by almost $67,000, but compensation might be complicated by a finding that she was a party to the scam.
The Fair Work Ombudsman is frustrated it is failing to secure "any real commitment" from Caltex on a "compliance partnership" to handle underpayments by franchisees, despite being in talks for 18 months.
An FWC full bench majority has refused to accept that an employer's flawed investigation process, coupled with uncharacteristic behaviour purportedly sparked by mixing medication and alcohol, excused a coal miner sacked over profanity-laced threats to co-workers.
A tribunal has penalised the operator of a string of Adelaide massage parlours who said he refused to keep records and provide pay slips because he was "too busy and lazy".
The SA Labor Party has pledged to criminalise wage theft if it retains power at the state election on March 17, with the worst repeat offenders facing jail terms of up to 15 years.
As independent federal MP Cathy McGowan vows to push for a new ministerial sex ban to be extended to all those working in Parliament, an IR lawyer says the approach has little practical use in the private sector where the focus is on disclosure.
Woolworths says it will train head contractors on their IR obligations, require all cleaning contractors to use a third-party payroll system and increase its auditing, after an FWO investigation revealed the retailer contributed to a culture of non-compliance in its Tasmanian cleaning supply chain.
