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.
Ahead of Federal Court hearings into ABCC claims that two CFMMEU officials breached entry laws at a Melbourne freeway project in 2017, the union is suing the head contractor and its IR manager for obstructing their efforts to investigate suspected safety breaches.
A court has upheld the reinstatement of a high school teacher dismissed for tampering with students' results, rejecting the Department of Education's argument the decision lacked "intelligible justification".
A Federal Court judge has again pointed his finger at Victorian CFMMEU secretary John Setka's leadership in issuing a personal payment order against one of his long-serving officials for blockading a worksite to pressure a builder into negotiating an agreement with the union.
A meatworker is suing his employer for more than $125,000 as part of an adverse action claim that it took him off knife-work and reduced his position because he sought to recoup years of alleged underpayments.
A lawyer is accusing his former firm of discrimination and harassment because of his homosexuality and its alleged perception that his anxiety condition was in fact a drug or alcohol addiction.
A construction company's refusal to to engage a non-union subcontractor at the CFMMEU's behest has now cost it $275,000 in penalties and compensation, with the Federal Circuit Court noting such conduct "has the potential to perpetuate a culture of submission".
The Federal Court has fined Airservices Australia for consciously failing to consult workers before forcing them to take leave during a Christmas/New Year shutdown period, observing there was "no point" in doing so once they returned to work.
