Now-defunct sushi chain Sushi Bay has been slapped with penalties totalling more than $15 million, with a court calling its long history of staff underpayments “calculated” and “audacious”.
Bondi wellness research company Doll House has copped a $197,000 penalty for terminating three disabled employees and re-engaging them as independent contractors in a ‘sham’ contracting arrangement.
Employment Minister Tony Burke says he will support the Fair Work Commission’s plan to appoint an independent administrator to the construction division of the CFMEU and flagged an AFP investigation into recent allegations the union has been infiltrated by criminal figures.
Australia’s largest car dealership Eagers Automotive has backpaid 13,000 staff more than $16 million after the Fair Work Ombudsman found that five of its subsidiaries underpaid employees.
A judge has ordered Sydney coffee shop chain 85 Degrees to pay a $1.44 million penalty for underpayments by its franchisees, saying it cannot be seen as acceptable for franchisors to “turn a blind eye” to contraventions by franchisees.
A Canberra massage parlour that systematically underpaid, intimidated and exploited migrant workers, including by threatening to kill their family members if they complained, has been hit with a $1 million penalty.
A judge has expressed concern that a “bizarre” last-minute settlement in a long-running case against the CFMEU could damage the public perception of the FWO as a model litigant, saying it could appear that the ombudsman treated some perpetrators as “more equal” than others.
The collapsed companies behind dumpling chain Din Tai Fung have been hit with over $3.8 million in penalties after a judge found they engaged in a “a calculated scheme to rob employees of their hard-earned wages and deceive the authorities”.
Convenience store operator On The Run will backpay $2.3 million in annual leave entitlements to 1,524 full and part-time employees — mostly console operators and roadhouse attendants working in South Australia.
A judge has slapped the University of Melbourne with a $74,590 penalty for taking adverse action against two casual academics to prevent them from claiming payment for extra hours worked.