The HR manager of a dumpling chain fined $4 million over a "deceitful and unscrupulous" payroll scam has been hit with a $100,000 penalty for her role, after the Federal Court heard a big sanction might force her to sell her share of her home.
A café owner penalised for ignoring a FWO compliance notice has been referred to a legal profession regulator after variously describing herself as a "Commonwealth public prosecutions Lawyer" and "Gov lawyer" in emails to a court.
Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth will next week hold the first meeting of a new tripartite advisory group, as her organisation prepares for the new criminal penalties regime and "safe harbour" mechanisms for employers who transgress but are willing to lift their games.
The Federal Court has thrown out a "time barred" former ROC case accusing a MEU mining and energy division president of misusing his union credit card to cover a series of private expenses in the 2016 financial year, while also finding no evidence of dishonesty.
The FWC's general manager is conducting a "major investigation" into a Health Services Union branch in Victoria, which is continuing after the former Registered Organisations Commission launched it about two years ago.
An accountancy firm and its principal must pay penalties totalling almost $70,000 for failing to comply with FWO notices to produce documents linked to to its client's "grossly inadequate" employee record-keeping.
Closing Loopholes 2 provisions that substantially increase penalties for breaching the Fair Work Act should prompt employers to consider boosting their investment in payroll systems and checking compliance, Adelaide University Professor of Law Andrew Stewart says.
The Federal Court has flayed the Republic of Italy for failing to heed Australian IR laws in its local consulates and has ordered it to pay a $94,000 fine, $7500 compensation and indemnity costs to an administrative employee after it failed to pay him annual leave loading for six years, to keep records in English and to produce the records on demand.
The first enforceable undertaking under the FWC's restored registered organisations powers provides for a union to further train its officers on the conduct of elections.
The Federal Court has fined the AWU almost $300,000 for 27,143 breaches of registered organisations laws, including failing to keep accurate membership records for nine years until 2017.
