Employment

The Fair Work Ombudsman says she is "very concerned" by the level of non-compliance with workplace laws by national sandwich franchise Subway, as inspectors recover another $80,000 in unpaid wages on behalf of more than 150 employees.

An Australian actor best known for his role on true crime drama series Underbelly is being sued for sexual harassment after he allegedly grabbed an extra on the set of Bikie Wars and forced his tongue into her mouth without consent.

Against a backdrop of an industrial relations system which has diminished union and workers’ power, class actions are again re-emerging as an alternative tool to challenge employers’ unlawful conduct. And in the current class actions landscape, the ability to run closed class proceedings on behalf of union members, or otherwise offer alternative fee arrangements to non-members in open class proceedings, is essential to trade unions’ willingness to embrace the representative proceeding regime, writes Slater & Gordon lawyer Alex Blennerhassett.

The National Tertiary Education Union has asked a court for permission to intervene in support of sacked physics professor and climate skeptic Peter Ridd as he fights James Cook University's appeal of a $1.2 million judgment against it.

United Petroleum has been hit with legal action by the Fair Work Ombudsman, which accuses the petrol retailer of failing to produce records as part of an investigation of workplace breaches.

Former Wallabies star Israel Folau offered to make a public apology for a homophobic social media slur that got him fired, a court has been told.

Fifteen former Macquarie Bank financial advisers are looking to expand their $2.6 million wages case against the bank, seeking evidence around allegedly unreasonable and unlawful deductions from their commissions.

Retail chain Sunglass Hut has agreed to backpay 620 workers almost $2.3 million after admitting it underpaid its part-time staff in stores across Australia for six years.

A major property development CEO accused of paying his Filipino nanny $2.33 an hour has denied underpayment allegations, instead claiming the woman was a “guest of the family” who was “free to decide” whether or not she wished to provide domestic assistance.

The judge overseeing competing employment class actions on behalf of casual coal miners against WorkPac has ordered the law firms running the cases to consider a proposal to jointly run the proceedings.