More than 50 construction workers are facing penalties after the Federal Court found they took unlawful strike action when they attended a CFMEU rally at a Perth children's hospital construction site in 2013, but the union says the case is a complete "farce".
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.
The CFMEU construction and general division's Victorian branch spent $13.1 million on legal costs in the 12 months to the end of last year, up more than five-fold from $2.3 million in 2014.
The Fair Work Ombudsman pursued accessories to alleged Fair Work Act breaches in nine out of every ten cases it lodged in court last financial year, while three-quarters involved visa-holders, according to its annual report.
The CFMEU says it will appeal to a full Federal Court over a judge's refusal to let it withdraw admissions that it was liable for right of entry contraventions by five officials at three Adelaide construction sites, after the High Court on Friday found the union inappropriately invoked its jurisdiction.
An Australia Post employee who two decades ago won the support of then shadow IR minister John Howard in postal union elections has failed to win his job back after an FWC full bench rejected his appeal.
The Federal Court has today fined a Melbourne painting & decorating firm and its director almost $20,000 for texting workers and telling them they must be members of the CFMEU before starting on-site work.
A director who appears to be operating a "phoenix" labour hire company and his former HR manager have been penalised $25,000 for their knowing involvement in unlawfully deducting $130,000 from the wages of 102 Crown Casino and Federation Square cleaners and providing false records to the FWO.