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179 articles are classified in All Articles > Pay and remuneration > Case law


FWO steps up pursuit of underpaying economist

A court has issued rare orders compelling a former economics professor to face FWO questions under oath about his capacity to pay penalties and compensation arising from underpayment judgments handed down in 2019 and 2020.

Court rejects director's bid to save on lawyers

A director's argument that he is well qualified to represent his company in an underpayments case has fallen flat, a court citing a "lack of objectivity" as being among the reasons to reject the proposition.

Tears for onion farmer seeking zombie deal extension

A FWC full bench has refused to extend a farm's 16-year-old deal for 12 weeks beyond next month's sunsetting of zombie agreements, describing the application as an effort to pay below-award rates for "one more" onion-picking season.

Employer fined $160K for failing to pay out annual leave

A judge has declined to bundle together an employer's various workplace breaches in ordering it to pay $163,000 in fines to a former worker for stripping his severance pay of more than 500 accumulated annual leave hours.


SDA chided for "suboptimal" approach to McDonald's class action

A judge who rejected a SDA bid to prioritise its breaks case against McDonald's by staying an earlier RAFFWU-backed class action has contrasted the "lacklustre and misdirected approach" of the country's second-largest union with that of the unregistered, seven-year-old union and its lawyers.

Court reels in Bondi Rescue producer's bid for more severance pay

A Channel 10 executive producer has failed to convince the Federal Court that the broadcaster should have paid her an extra $400,000 under its significantly more generous enterprise agreement redundancy pay provisions, rather than the NES entitlement she received.

Agreements must include pay rates: FWC bench

A FWC full bench has confirmed that it can only approve enterprise agreements that include rates of pay, because their absence prevents it determining whether the deal passes the BOOT.

Director liable for underpayments despite limited understanding: Court

In a significant decision on directors' liability for underpayments, a court has found that although the co-founder of Chatime was unaware the bubble-tea chain was in breach of workplace laws, he understood enough about award obligations around casual and weekend penalty rates to be considered complicit.

More than $1 billion backpaid in past two years: FWO

Large corporates and universities accounted for almost two-thirds of the $509 million in unpaid wages and entitlements recovered by the FWO in 2022-23 on behalf of more than 250,000 workers, the workplace watchdog revealed today.