Today the Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission handed down its annual wage review decision.

Ms Bastoni was employed by ORC International Pty Ltd as a casual market research interviewer for more than 8 years before her employment was terminated after an incident on 26 May 2018 in which she referred to her supervisor as having “extra padding”.

As payroll tax provisions come under increased scrutiny by Revenue Offices, another case has provided clarity on how they should be interpreted.

In a controversial decision with potentially wide-reaching consequences, the Full Court of the Federal Court has upheld an earlier ruling that a labour hire employee who worked as a “casual” truck driver at Queensland coal mines on a regular basis over several years was not actually a casual employee for the purposes of the National Employment Standards, and was entitled to paid annual leave when his employment ended.

The Victorian Parliament has passed new legislation providing portable long service leave benefits for workers in community services, security and contract cleaning industries.

On 15 May 2018 the Long Service Leave Act 2018 (Vic) (the Act) received Royal Assent with an effective date of 1 November 2018. The Act repeals and replaces the Long Service Leave Act 1992 (Vic), provides increased benefits for various classes of employees, including in particular parents and carers, and will apply to all employees in Victoria unless explicitly excluded.

The Full Federal Court handed down a significant decision on 20 August 2018, finding that accessorial liability extends to advisors involved in underpayments. The matter of Ezy Accounting 123 Pty Ltd v Fair Work Ombudsman [2018] FCAFC 134 involved an appeal by Ezy Accounting (Ezy) against penalties imposed by the Federal Circuit Court for failure to advise their client of contraventions of the Fair Work Act (Act).

Two Fair Work Commission in the last five weeks warn of the serious consequences of signing a false statutory declaration when applying for approval of an enterprise agreement.  

In a decision handed down by the Fair Work Commission on 6 July 2018, the content of the model term providing an entitlement for unpaid family and domestic violence leave was finalised. According to the decision, the model term will be inserted into modern awards with industry and occupational coverage as part of the 4 yearly review of modern awards and will be effective from 1 August 2018.

The Fair Work Commission (Commission) have today determined that it is appropriate to increase modern award minimum wages by 3.5 per cent, raising the national minimum wage to $24.30 a week. The new changes come into effect from 1 July 2018.

The Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission handed down an important decision on 26 March 2018, confirming that it will grant award covered employees an entitlement to unpaid family and domestic violence leave.

In a Fair Work Commission hearing in December 2017, Deputy President Val Gostencnik found that under Australian law, Uber drivers are independent contractors, and therefore ineligible for unfair dismissal protection.

In May 2017, the Federal Circuit Court (FCC) found the accountant’s client, the operator of a Japanese restaurant chain in Melbourne, underpaid its workers and thereby contravened the Fair Work Act. Critically though, the judge found the accounting firm, which provided the restaurant with book-keeping services, knew its client underpaid its employees and had ‘deliberately shut its eye as to what was going on’.

All businesses and employers need to be aware of the recent amendments to the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (Act). The amendments were part of a number of changes made by Parliament in the wake of recent underpayment scandals, particularly those involving prominent franchise operations.

The Federal Court has rejected United Voice’s and SDA’s bid to have the decision of the Fair Work Commission (FWC) to cut penalty rates in certain modern awards judicially reviewed.

The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has handed down two decisions which will have implications for employers from 1 July 2017: the annual wage review which determines minimum award rates and the transitional arrangements to roll out changes to penalty rates.

The Federal Circuit Court has handed down an important decision, highlighting risks to accountants and other businesses that provide employment advice, payroll or bookkeeping services to employer clients.

Employers in the building and construction industry will be well aware of the Code for the Tendering and Performance of Building Work 2016 (the 2016 Building Code) which commenced on 2 December 2016.

We have previously reminded employers that when negotiating an enterprise bargaining agreement the correct procedure must be followed or the Fair Work Commission (FWC) will reject the proposed agreement (see previous article here). If rejected, the bargaining process must begin again, wasting employers valuable time and resources.

As indicated in our article yesterday, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) has handed down its long-awaited decision on penalty rates applying on weekends, public holidays and late nights.