The Morrison Government has today introduced legislation in response to two Migrant Workers' Taskforce recommendations to make it an offence to pressure temporary migrant workers to breach their visa conditions and to create a new power to ban employers that underpay them.
In a further warning on the importance of accurate payroll systems, the Australian Red Cross Society has become the latest surprising addition to the list of underpaying employers to have entered enforceable undertakings with the FWO after the charity self-reported short-changing employees a figure now estimated to top $25 million.
The National Australia Bank is facing criminal charges that it failed to pay long service leave entitlements to casual employees in Victoria, as the State's wage theft watchdog continues its pursuit of big employers.
In a ruling reinforcing the wisdom of heeding FWO compliance notices, an online directory and its director have despite pleas they would be "crippled" been fined more than $18,000 for failing to rectify underpayments on time.
The Fair Work Ombudsman increased its use of compliance notices by 113% in 2020-21, as it sought to quickly rectify underpayments instead of taking action in the courts, while it has nevertheless ramped up its legal action by more than 40% and set up a dedicated branch to pursue corporate misconduct.
Woolworths says settling a class action it dismissed as "without merit" will ensure its approach to repaying thousands of salaried managers can be "appropriately addressed" via an FWO Federal Court case, but it will first pay affected staff a further $50 million.
In a decision further clarifying when clients can be legally represented in workplace matters, a Queensland IRC member has confirmed he has no power to involve lawyers in underpayment cases.
