Employers are not automatically entitled to reduce roster allowances when working hours fall below an agreement's "indicative" threshold, a court has found.
The Federal Circuit Court has levelled a $75,000 fine and is expected to order more than $25,000 in compensation against the director of a liquidated supermarkets enterprise who withheld about $450,000 in union dues, superannuation and Easter rates from more than 200 employees.
On the heels of this week's rejection of a United Voice and AEU equal pay bid for childcare workers, the IEU on Monday heads to the FWC to press its separate claim on behalf of 12,000 university-qualified teachers employed in long day care centres and preschools.
An FWC full bench has today thrown out a United Voice and AEU equal pay claim for childcare workers after finding a 2005 work value case was insufficient, in the absence of contemporary evidence, to establish metalworkers as an appropriate comparator.
A Federal Court class action against Chubb Insurance Australia Limited for alleged failing to pay minimum rates, overtime and penalties has been discontinued after the lawyers for the employees failed to secure litigation funding.
The FWC has thrown out an employer's argument that a "wide view" of the Fair Work Act allowed it to make four safety officers working on the Gorgon LNG project redundant when they refused to accept a 13% pay cut.
Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James says low penalties are creating a "perverse incentive" for a "dangerous minority" of employers to use inaccurate or incomplete records to conceal underpayments, forcing the watchdog to use novel, labour-intensive strategies to piece together employees' working hours.
After what the FWO says is the first judicial review of one of its compliance notices, the Federal Circuit Court has found that a cook engaged at a Hindu temple was underpaid because he was wrongly classified as a priest under his employment contract.
The FWC has reduced Sunday penalty rates in the hospitality, retail, fast food and pharmacy sectors and pared-back public holiday penalties in five awards, in a landmark ruling today by a five-member full bench.
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.
