In its pursuit of a former economics professor for allegedly paying his employees as little as $10 an hour, the FWO is also seeking an injunction to restrain him from future breaches.
The Fair Work Ombudsman has called for ASIC-style powers to ask a court to disqualify "repeat offenders" from running companies and avoiding backpay and penalties through phoenix company activity.
An FWO report released hot on the heels of Caltex's announcement that it will exit franchising has revealed non-compliance at 76% of audited sites and accuses the oil giant of contributing to breaches by failing to put effective systems in place, despite warnings.
A Federal Court judge has upended the recently-adopted precept that unions are vicariously responsible for entry breaches by officials under the Fair Work Act's 'liabilities of bodies corporate' clause, declaring that a close examination of related cases reveals no support for the contention.
The SA Labor Party has pledged to criminalise wage theft if it retains power at the state election on March 17, with the worst repeat offenders facing jail terms of up to 15 years.
A court will next month decide whether to punish a former Toll employee after finding that he breached orders restraining him from publishing far-right nationalist videos in which he wears company-branded clothing.
The High Court has today accepted that courts can make orders to stop union officials seeking or accepting payments from their unions towards penalties imposed for unlawful conduct.
The Federal Court has accepted that the ABCC made a "genuine mistake" when it pursued CFMEU national secretary Michael O'Connor for his alleged involvement in a blockade at Sydney's Barangaroo project.
