Five weeks after ordering Darwin-based Choong Enterprises to pay the largest-ever court-imposed fine for breaching 457 visa sponsorship obligations, the Federal Court has directed the company to backpay seven of the Filipino workers involved a total of more than $100,000.
The AWU's Victorian branch received up to $25,000 a year from a Spotless Group subsidiary under a memorandum of understanding that meant cleaners were not paid penalty rates, the Heydon Royal Commission heard today.
Modern award transfer of business provisions that guarantee a new employer's recognition of prior service are set to be adjusted after a FWC full bench found they conflict with the National Employment Standards.
The Office of the Australian Small Business Commissioner is pushing for the full adult wage to be paid from the age of 18, questioning the rationale behind the IR system "deeming adulthood to commence at 21".
In a lucrative Christmas/New Year period for the Commonwealth's coffers, the Federal Circuit Court has handed down penalties amounting to more than $580,000 in eight separate cases brought by the Fair Work Ombudsman against companies and their directors for breaches of the Fair Work Act.
The Federal Court has fined a company almost $200,000 for underpaying its aged care workers more than $2.5m over a five year period, finding that its unlawful employment practices might have given it an unfair competitive advantage.
A long history of employee complaints and the need to send a strong message to the hair and beauty industry that "it does not pay to underpay workers" has led to a hairdressing chain being fined $70,000 for short-changing an apprentice more than $8,000.
In another chapter of a long-running case involving a botched attempt to lodge AWAs, a former company director will have the penalty for her role in short-changing 33 call centre workers reduced after the Federal Court cut in half the period in which she was liable as an accessory to her company's breaches.
In a big win for supermarket giant Coles, the Federal Circuit Court has ruled that its online delivery drivers are covered by the major retail award, throwing out the TWU's long-running claim that they are employed in the transport industry.
The Federal Court has found that shifting seasonal workers to a new employer after they'd worked 40 hours a week was a "sham" arrangement to avoid paying overtime.