The former operator of a Coffee Club franchise located at the Gold Coast is taking the company to court claiming it set him up to fail. Jeremy Swift, who ran the outlet for 15 years, wants more than a million…
Employment law experts are once again calling on the federal government to introduce criminal penalties for wage theft, after a Queensland restaurant operator was penalised for a third time for ripping off workers. In handing down more than $100,000 in…
Undercover staff were sent to spy on a Brisbane Coffee Club franchise to check if workers were being paid their proper wages and entitlements. The Coffee Club Franchising Company took the extraordinary action believing the owners of the store were…
The Fair Work Ombudsman today carried out surprise audits of 17 Top Juice outlets in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and the ACT to check if they are compliant with workplace laws. The operation came about after the workplace watchdog…
The owners of a western Sydney restaurant are facing court action after allegedly underpaying an Indian worker more than $150,000. The Fair Work Ombudsman has described the alleged conduct as "extremely serious and completely unacceptable". The details Facing court are…
A number of bars along Melbourne's popular Chapel Street were raided by Fair Work inspectors on Wednesday night after a number of workers made complaints about underpayments. The bars targeted by the workplace watchdog are all owned by the La…
There are renewed calls for the federal government to introduce criminal sanctions for wage theft, following the revelation that celebrity chef George Calombaris underpaid hundreds of workers almost $8 million. The latest underpayments scandal follows another last year, when Calombaris…
Industrial Relations Claims is reminding employers that the new national minimum wage is now in effect, increasing to $19.49 per hour, or $740.80 per week. According to the Fair Work Ombudsman, compliance issues can often be traced back to when…
Business lobby groups that continually claim that wage theft is not deliberate, but rather the result of 'innocent' mistakes made by employers are nonsense, according to industrial relations experts. "We constantly hear from business groups that wage theft shouldn't even…
Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker has promised a stronger approach to enforcement against businesses that commit wage theft, but the regulator will still give priority to vulnerable groups like overseas workers instead of Australian nationals. The stronger focus on enforcement…
