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.
More than 30,000 postal ballots have been sent to Victorian public sector employees as voting gets underway on an enterprise deal that delivers a 13% pay increase over four years and provides 20 days family violence leave.
Wage growth in private sector federal agreements approved by the FWC in the December quarter of last year dropped to a new 24-year low, according to the Department of Employment.
The AWU says Arrium mineworkers' rejection of a pay cut will not have a major effect on the company's bottom line and has pledged the union's ongoing commitment to working with the company as it deals with its debt crisis.
Two companies and their director that underpaid two Indian citizens and engaged in sham contracting and adverse action have been ordered to pay $200,000 in penalties and compensation.
The Federal Circuit Court has ordered a Mahjong club to pay more than $415,000 in compensation for breaching state and federal IR laws and engaging in adverse action when it moved a full-time tea attendant to a part-time role because of his workers' compensation claim.
The union that represents cleaners, disability care workers and security guards is asking the FWC to "convene a special process" in the second half of the year to determine whether it can set a "medium-term target" for the minimum wage, to arrest what it says is a long-term downward trajectory.
