Employment standards page 23 of 47

The Victorian Government has pushed ahead with legislation to create a criminal offence for deliberate underpayment, defying employer calls for it to be scrapped or delayed.

The ASU has hit out at the FWO for letting Qantas off with a $390,500 "slap on the wrist" contrition fine for underpaying 640 misclassified head office workers by about $7.1 million, but the airline says its self-reported error also led to about $22 million in overpayments.

The Victorian Government intends to "pierce the corporate veil" with its forthcoming legislation to introduce criminal penalties for the worst cases of underpayment and exploitation.

Woolworths has retained former Fair Work Commission member Greg Harrison to independently review backpayment claims by current or former employees.

The NSW Young Liberals have called on the Federal Coalition to establish a three-strike warning system to deal with employers that unintentionally underpay workers and for employees to "bear some of the risk", in a submission warning against "heavy-handed" policies.

The Federal Court has held that a BMA coal loading facility breached a reasonable overtime clause in its enterprise agreement by requiring workers to perform more than eight additional hours per week.

A-League soccer team Central Coast Mariners says it is surprised to find itself at the centre of a possible test case challenging unpaid trial and training arrangements, in which a player claims it misled and exploited him to secure his services for free when he was in fact an employee.

The former "right-hand" man to a Gold Coast tobacco mogul who styles himself as "the candyman" has won $90,000 in penalties and 10% of his costs for an adverse action case he won two years ago in which a court found the employer "fabricated" a reason to dismiss him.

The High Court has today granted the Morrison Government and a major food manufacturer special leave to appeal a contentious decision on calculating sick and carers leave, claimed to potentially cost employers an extra $2 billion a year.

Woolworths claims a class action seeking underpayments of $300 million more than it self-disclosed is "without merit", given it has already committed to fully repay any shortfall.