The coronavirus pandemic requires a temporary but fundamental reconsideration of the Fair Work Act's safety net, according to a joint bid to vary a key award to provide substantial operational and hours flexibility.
The Australian Industry Group is working with the ACTU to fast-track changes to key awards to increase the flexibility of working hours and leave in response to the coronavirus crisis.
New rules for recording the working hours of junior lawyers and paralegals are set to take effect from March, despite protests from major law firms, while up to a million clerical employees are set to be subject to similar provisions.
Service station owners who required a visa-dependent employee to hand over his tax refund and cover the cost of drive-offs have been ordered to compensate the former console operator and his fellow-worker wife more than $50,000 after a court found them accessorily liable for underpayments.
Mining giant Glencore failed to pay the full amount of untaken long service leave to a redundant management employee because it miscalculated his base pay, the Federal Court has found.
Woolworths claims a class action seeking underpayments of $300 million more than it self-disclosed is "without merit", given it has already committed to fully repay any shortfall.
A shipping company facing multiple challenges to alleged redundancies is seeking to quash an FWC full bench finding that a model consultation term does not override obligations under its agreement.
The CFMMEU has taken a leaf from the ABCC's playbook by invoking the High Court's 'personal payments order' decision in arguing penalties levied against an underpaying, bankrupt former director of a liquidated company should discourage such practices from being considered as "simply the cost of doing business".
In a decision reinforcing the need for employers to maintain timesheets, a court has more than doubled the restitution a family-run business must make despite questions of credibility about the sponsored couple claiming underpayments.
