A Turnbull Coalition Government, if returned at the July 2 election, will amend the Fair Work Act to make franchisors and parent entities responsible for their franchisees' and subsidiaries' exploitation of vulnerable workers, while increasing penalties tenfold for employers that underpay such workers and fail to keep proper records.
Convenience store chain 7-Eleven is ending the Fels Panel's oversight of its process for rectifying systematic underpayments to franchisee employees and moving the task to what it says is an independent internal unit.
FWC's interest-based dispute resolution approach reaches new stage; Shorten Government would intervene in penalties case; Visa cases now the lion's share of FWO prosecutions; Budget Estimates hearings brought forward; Labor bid to disallow regulation postponed to Wednesday; and Slaters wins new finance deal.
Law firm Maurice Blackburn is calling for tougher laws to force franchises to take responsibility for their franchisees' employment practices, as it pursues three underpayment claims totalling $1 million via the Fels 7-Eleven Wage Fairness Panel, which has now secured payouts of $11 million.
The Opposition has given notice that it will introduce a Private Member's Bill that would trigger a crackdown on underpayments, sham contracting and exploitation of temporary visa workers.
A court has taken an employer to task for making false representations to interns who were told their terms and conditions complied with minimum standards.
Federal Labor says it is ready to support the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement after securing "legally binding safeguards" requiring labour market testing, use of enterprise agreements as a reference point for 457 visa workers' salaries and a 90-day deadline on obtaining occupational or trades licences.
Employment Minister Michaelia Cash has set up a ministerial working group that she says will "consider further policy options" to curb exploitation of "vulnerable" foreign visa workers and might lead to Fair Work Act reform proposals that would be taken to the next election.
Five weeks after ordering Darwin-based Choong Enterprises to pay the largest-ever court-imposed fine for breaching 457 visa sponsorship obligations, the Federal Court has directed the company to backpay seven of the Filipino workers involved a total of more than $100,000.
The TWU has called for greater rights for foreign workers on temporary visas, with criminal sanctions to be imposed on employers who exploit them and illegally undercut wages.
