The Fair Work Ombudsman's prosecution of food delivery service Foodora has been followed by a landmark decision on the gig economy by the UK Supreme Court.
Two big international direct marketing companies exercised control over workers who were engaged as independent contractors to sell products or solicit donations to major corporations and charities, according to documents lodged with the Federal Court.
The Productivity Commission has recommended severing default super fund allocation from the IR system, in its draft report on the superannuation system that confirms industry funds are "systematically" outperforming retail funds by a wide margin.
An exploding secondary labour market of people who can't enforce their rights is driving down wages and bargaining power while creating a "tinder box of exploitation", unions have told this year's NSW IR Society conference.
The Turnbull Government has introduced legislation granting employers a one-off, 12-month amnesty for historical underpayment of the superannuation guarantee.
The Federal Court has ordered a company and its director to pay substantial fines for failing to pass on more than $11,000 in parental leave payments to a cook and then concealing their actions after the FWO began asking questions.
Legislation introduced to Parliament today by the Greens would empower the FWC to make "minimum entitlements orders" to bring gig and other "non-standard" workers under the protection of the Fair Work Act.
In rejecting as "absurd" the expert evidence of a forensic accountant who calculated that Ambulance Victoria owed an on-call media officer $800,000 in unpaid entitlements, the Federal Circuit Court has instead ordered the employer to pay her $155,000, including for time spent sleeping.
An Italian consulate has failed to convince a full Federal Court that it is immune from underpayment claims pursued under Australian IR laws by two former employees who signed contracts linking their entitlements to Italian legal and industrial arrangements.
ACTU secretary Sally McManus has called for the $590 billion industry superannuation fund sector to reconsider their commercial relationships with "dodgy banks" named at the Hayne Royal Commission into the finance sector.
