A FWC member has applied the "well known 'duck principle'" in holding that a tyre recycling company suspected of phoenixing unfairly sacked a worker who complained about unpaid superannuation, before threatening to kill a director.
The FWC has warned employers that the "clock is ticking" for Work Choices "zombie" agreements in rebuffing a large employer's bid to keep a 2008 flat-rate deal operating until May or June, coinciding with the 10-year anniversary of its nominal expiry.
Victoria's Alfred Health and St Vincent's Health have become the latest public hospital operators targeted by a swathe of class actions seeking six years of unpaid overtime on behalf of current and former junior doctors.
The FSU says it will sue the National Australia Bank after a survey of more than 1000 middle managers revealed widespread excessive unpaid work and "unbearable levels of stress and anxiety", but the bank says there is no such expectation of extra hours.
The FWO alleges in court proceedings filed yesterday that Coles owes its managers about $100 million more than it has made allowance for following internal payroll audits looking at the underpayments.
In a further warning on the importance of accurate payroll systems, the Australian Red Cross Society has become the latest surprising addition to the list of underpaying employers to have entered enforceable undertakings with the FWO after the charity self-reported short-changing employees a figure now estimated to top $25 million.
Woolworths says settling a class action it dismissed as "without merit" will ensure its approach to repaying thousands of salaried managers can be "appropriately addressed" via an FWO Federal Court case, but it will first pay affected staff a further $50 million.
A court has accepted that it should impose a reduced underpayment penalty on an employer and its director because last year's extended coronavirus lockdown in Melbourne significantly reduced the size and financial resources of the business.
A traffic management company seeking a deal paying night workers shift loadings instead of higher overtime rates even if they don't take over from a preceding shift has lost its appeal bid after refusing to give an undertaking to overcome the deficiency.