Woolworths has succeeded in having reference to its own no-cost alternative inserted into an opt-out notice to be sent by law firm Adero to current and prospective class action members claiming underpayments estimated in the hundreds of millions.
Australia's largest independent grocery retailer in defending a $20 million class action has admitted to breaching leave loading requirements, but otherwise denied it should have paid salaried employees for extra hours or recorded their additional time.
A judge who took exception to a business being liquidated during an underpayment case was entitled to impose heavier penalties on the owners than sought by the FWO, an appeal court has found.
Multinational cosmetics company Lush has backpaid workers almost $4.5 million and entered into an enforceable undertaking with the FWO after the lack of an HR department and training, along with a moribund manual payroll system, led to widespread underpayments.
A 61-year-old former economics professor has been fined $31,000 for underpaying two visa holders employed at a Korean grocery, a court finding he deliberately arranged for them to receive as little as $10 an hour.
A major convenience chain operator slugged with almost $65,000 in penalties for the "brazen", "deliberate exploitation" of a console operator has hit back at a $70 million class action, denying claims and citing a lead applicant's alleged behavioural issues.
The National Library of Australia has avoided becoming the second federal public body forced to make a "contrition payment" to the FWO, after admitting to underpaying casual employees almost $250,000 over two decades.
"Extraordinary expenditure of no credit to anybody": Judge; Worker backpaid $224K as public corporation admits underpayments; ALLA webinar on pandemic's IR impact.
A federal court judge has in fining an underpaying juice shop operator almost $35,000 flatly rejected "cultur[al] differences" as a mitigating factor, lamenting instead the frequency with which ethnically diverse employers exploit their own communities.
