The Fair Work Ombudsman has warned accessorial liability for workplace breaches is now being extended beyond employers and company directors to those working in human resources, management and recruitment.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has rejected a Labor proposal to make a joint submission to the Fair Work Commission on the importance of maintaining penalty rates.
Domino's Pizza says it intends to introduce penalty rates in its next agreement and that a Deutsche Bank report predicting the change could reduce profits by 24% does not factor in productivity measures implemented since the previous deal.
A court has ordered a 7-Eleven franchisee to pay a $150,000 penalty for deliberately underpaying employees and using a "reverse calculation" regime to cover its tracks.
The FWO has secured its largest back-payment, after making an enforceable undertaking with a Victorian-based mining services company that requires it to reimburse $2 million to 205 underpaid workers and provide IR training to all managers with HR and payroll responsibilities.
An FWO inquiry into housekeeping services reveals that exploitation of vulnerable, overseas workers is rife within the industry, as one of Australia's largest hotel and resort operators agrees to enter into enforceable undertakings with the watchdog in a bid to avoid proceedings over an independent contracting model it established that robbed workers of their correct wages and conditions.
Convenience store chain 7-Eleven is ending the Fels Panel's oversight of its process for rectifying systematic underpayments to franchisee employees and moving the task to what it says is an independent internal unit.
The Federal Court has knocked back a rostering manager's claim for "recall to duty" entitlements for out-of-hours calls about employee availability and shift arrangements, finding them a "core" aspect of her employment obligations.
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.
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.
