The Fair Work Ombudsman has put companies and boards "on notice" after Woolworths revealed that 5,700 salaried employees at its supermarkets and metro stores have been underpaid by up to $300 million.
A judge has ordered more than $200,000 in compensation and penalties against two underpaying former company directors at the same time as roundly rejecting FWO attempts to characterise the dental technician involved as a "vulnerable" visa-holder.
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".
The FWO is prosecuting the operators of a Sydney restaurant for allegedly underpaying a skilled worker on a SubClass 457 visa by more than $150,000 while they maintained "overall control" of his bank account.
Rockpool has hit back at a chef's claims that he was underpaid and expected to work extreme hours while on an annualised salary arrangement, maintaining that it is up to him to produce accurate records and establish any sum allegedly owed.
The former director of a liquidated dental practice has been penalised and ordered to backpay a 457 visa worker thousands of dollars after a second adverse underpayment judgment involving his company.
A s-x-shop sales worker and "booth" monitor is suing his employer for more than $30,000 in alleged underpayments he claims to be owed under the general retail award, while also suggesting that it wrongly classified him as a casual employee.
A Deliveroo rider has launched a sham contracting test case, claiming the company should have paid him almost twice as much, as a casual employee rather than per delivery as an independent contractor, given a "batching system" that weighted individual performance factors.
The FWO has launched a test case against the operator of a pop-up toy store, seeking to reverse the onus of proof for underpayments and rely for the first time on serious contraventions provisions that potentially expose the company and its director to 10 times the ordinary maximum penalties.
As the FSU and Travel Money Oz head to conciliation next Thursday over claims that the currency exchange business owes workers for unpaid overtime including attendance at "buzz nights", the parties are already at loggerheads over award coverage.
