The Federal Court has set a seven-week trial to hear Adero Law's class actions against Coles and Woolworths in tandem with FWO underpayment claims against the retailers, while the law firm seeks about a third of a $2.2 million settlement with Drakes and Foodland.
The Federal Government should consider outlawing wage theft as an anti-competitive practice while also introducing a criminal offence for the worst cases, according to a Senate inquiry on unlawful underpayment.
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 Federal Court has applied the "precautionary principle" in accepting the FWO's view on the process for calculating underpayments for 19,000 salaried Woolworths employees, while it has also indicated that jointly managing the matter with a similar Coles case "would be useful".
Woolworths has revealed another $144 million in underpayments to workers covered by its three main enterprise agreements, while warning its backpay bill for its earlier revelations about shortchanging salaried employees could still go higher.
McDonald's is facing fresh claims it deliberately denied paid rest breaks to thousands of workers in its own restaurants, with the fast food behemoth already up against a class action and multiple cases accusing it of conspiring with franchisees on the issue.
The FWC has refused to accept the pandemic as an excuse for an employer's late payment of wages over a six-month period, agreeing to consider a worker's general protections application on the basis that the delays left him with no choice but to resign.
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.
Corporate unease over payroll systems will only have grown today after Bupa became the latest big employer to disclose widespread underpayments, the Australian arm of the global health group revealing it owes 18,000 employees up to $75 million before interest and superannuation.
McDonald's has been hit with a second Federal Court case over its alleged failure to provide paid rest breaks, with a RAFFWU-backed class action claiming thousands of past and present workers are potentially owed millions over the "systemic" issue.
