The Federal Circuit Court has fined a former franchisee operator more than $180,000 for “inappropriate and grotesque exploitation” after forcing an overseas worker to repay $18,000 of his wages. Judge Michael Jarrett found the former Coffee Club café franchisee in Brisbane breached the Fair Work (FW) Act. This was after Saandeep Chokhan...
Franchisee fined $180k for illegal cash back scheme
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AGL Loy Yang power dispute ends
AGL Energy Limited (AGL) has ended a bitter bargaining deadlock after the majority of Loy Yang A power station and mine workers voted in favour of the company's proposed enterprise agreement (EA). The power giant revealed in a statement workers at the Victorian coal fired power station and mine approved the EA in a secret ballot held yesterday (Jun...
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Human capital investment ‘central ingredient' for growth: RBA
Investing in human capital was a “central ingredient” in capitalising on technological progress and promoting growth, the Reserve Bank of Australia governor Philip Lowe has advised. Lowe told the Crawford Leadership Forum on Monday (June 19) “heavy investment in human capital” is required to “create and seize these opp...
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FWC rejects claim media coverage caused ‘drastic consequences'
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has awarded a worker more than $10k for being unfairly dismissed despite the employer's claim a newspaper article about the matter had brought the company “to our knees”. Vice President Adam Hatcher found the worker was not responsible for the article's content and there was no evidence to support the comp...
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Ex-GM to pay $447k over dodgy invoices
The NSW Supreme Court has ordered a former general manager of a freight company to pay it $447,297 in compensation after he wrongly authorised payment of invoices from some suppliers and contractors. Nick Rimac was responsible for engaging third-party suppliers and contractors, and approving third-party supplier and contractor invoices at Visa Glob...
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Xenophon EA inquiry receives the go ahead
The Senate inquiry into substandard enterprise agreements (EAs) by large employers will soon be established after SA Senator Nick Xenophon won support from Labor and the Greens for his motion in Parliament yesterday (June 19). The inquiry will examine claims employees received below award rates in some EAs despite the better off overall test (BOOT)...
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Editorial Team
Editor: Annie Lawson (03) 8684 2127, 0422 567 004, annie.lawson@tr.com Chief Journalist: Gerard May Managing Editor: Peter Schwab Twitter: @WorkforceTR
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Exorbitant fee blamed for labour hire transfer
The Federal Court has granted an interim injunction stopping Oxford Cold Storage from transferring workers to a new labour-hire company to avoid negotiating an enterprise agreement (EA), National Union of Workers (NUW) has said. Oxford told Workforce Daily the old labour hire company had to close down because it charged too much money to supply it ...
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Nurse sacking unreasonable and possible breach of DD act
The Fair Work Commission has condemned Northern Health's handling of a dismissal matter as a possible breach of the Disability Discrimination (DD) Act, ordering it to immediately reinstate an intensive care nurse sacked while recovering from a non-work-related car accident. Finding Dorris Maharaj's dismissal “unreasonable”, Commissioner...
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Shorten, Cash, Hadgkiss stand against Setka's fired up comments
Bill Shorten has rejected “in the strongest terms” John Setka's comments targeting Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) inspectors at yesterday's (June 20) rally against the Federal Government's new building code ( WF 16/6/2017 ). It comes after employment minister Senator Michaelia Cash and ABCC Commissioner Nigel Had...
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Defence dept EA gets over the line after three rejections
Defence department staff have voted in favour of a proposed enterprise agreement (EA) that the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) described as an improvement on the three previous deals rejected by employees ( WF 2/6/17 ). Some 61% of the 84% of eligible voting staff supported the EA in the ballot that closed yesterday, the union said. The CP...
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Vulnerable workers bill still in pipeline
The Labor Party has urged the Federal Government not to delay legislation aimed at protecting vulnerable workers from exploitation, moving a motion to expedite the bill before the winter break. Opposition employment spokesman Brendan O'Connor said any further delay in passing the Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Vulnerable Workers) Bill 2017 would &...
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ABCC refines RoE material
The Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) has agreed to amend its right-of-entry education material after the Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) accused it of publishing inaccurate information. The union said the website incorrectly advised a union representative could only hold discussions with workers during meal t...
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Editorial Team
Editor: Annie Lawson (03) 8684 2127, 0422 567 004, annie.lawson@tr.com Chief Journalist: Gerard May Journalist: Steve Andrew Managing Editor: Peter Schwab Twitter: @WorkforceTR
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Players in rival codes seek bigger revenue share in wake of AFL deal
Players from rival national professional sporting codes have seized on the successful negotiation of a new Australian Football Association (AFL) enterprise agreement (EA) to ratchet up calls for similar revenue-sharing models for their sport ( WF 2/06/17 ). Players in the AFL Aussie Rules competition will receive a 20% rise this year, after a new $...
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Summary dismissal harsh if not enacted for 13 days: FWC
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has found the dismissal of an employee at Australia's sole producer of bank notes was harsh and unreasonable despite him sending three commercially confidential emails to his home address. Commissioner Anna Lee Cribb found Reserve Bank of Australia wholly owned subsidiary Note Printing Australia (NPA) had a valid reas...
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Manufacturing sector crucial adds 40k jobs: report
The manufacturing sector added 40,000 jobs last year despite the sector previously suffering a succession of job losses amid a downturn, a new report has found. The Australia Institute's Centre for Future Work (CFW) released the A Moment of Opportunity report ahead of the institute's National Manufacturing Summit in Canberra on June 21. It said the...
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FWC tosses out UFU objection in firefighter Facebook dispute
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has tossed out a United Firefighters Union (UFU) procedural objection to a Victorian Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board (MFB) investigation into a firefighter alleged to have posted offensive remarks on Facebook. In a review of the merits of the UFU's application after a full bench dismissed it on appeal, ...
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ASU wins production of documents order against council
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has dismissed Moreland City Council's (MCC) bid to stop the Australian Services Union (ASU) from accessing its garbage collection contract tender documents. Commissioner Michelle Bissett said confidentiality and commercial sensitivity were not grounds alone to deny an order for documents to be produced, butmay bereaso...
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Editorial Team
Editor: Annie Lawson (03) 8684 2127, 0422 567 004, annie.lawson@tr.com Chief Journalist: Gerard May Managing Editor: Peter Schwab Twitter: @WorkforceTR
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