A court has ordered a 7-Eleven franchisee to pay a $150,000 penalty for deliberately underpaying employees and using a "reverse calculation" regime to cover its tracks.
The FWO has secured its largest back-payment, after making an enforceable undertaking with a Victorian-based mining services company that requires it to reimburse $2 million to 205 underpaid workers and provide IR training to all managers with HR and payroll responsibilities.
An FWO inquiry into housekeeping services reveals that exploitation of vulnerable, overseas workers is rife within the industry, as one of Australia's largest hotel and resort operators agrees to enter into enforceable undertakings with the watchdog in a bid to avoid proceedings over an independent contracting model it established that robbed workers of their correct wages and conditions.
Convenience store chain 7-Eleven is ending the Fels Panel's oversight of its process for rectifying systematic underpayments to franchisee employees and moving the task to what it says is an independent internal unit.
The Federal Court has knocked back a rostering manager's claim for "recall to duty" entitlements for out-of-hours calls about employee availability and shift arrangements, finding them a "core" aspect of her employment obligations.
Law firm Maurice Blackburn is calling for tougher laws to force franchises to take responsibility for their franchisees' employment practices, as it pursues three underpayment claims totalling $1 million via the Fels 7-Eleven Wage Fairness Panel, which has now secured payouts of $11 million.
The Federal Circuit Court has ordered a Mahjong club to pay more than $415,000 in compensation for breaching state and federal IR laws and engaging in adverse action when it moved a full-time tea attendant to a part-time role because of his workers' compensation claim.
A court has ruled that three lawyers at an IR advisory company are not entitled to overtime for working two extra hours a week, because it constituted reasonable additional hours under the Fair Work Act.
The Opposition has given notice that it will introduce a Private Member's Bill that would trigger a crackdown on underpayments, sham contracting and exploitation of temporary visa workers.
A Melbourne brothel took adverse action against an award-winning receptionist when it threatened to shift her from permanent part-time to casual employment, then dismissed her when she objected.