Minimum wage increase On Monday 3 June 2024, the Fair Work Commission has announced a 3.75% increase to minimum rates in modern awards, which takes effect from the first full pay period after 1 July 2024. For those employees who are not covered by a modern award or enterprise agreement, and are paid the National […]
This Employment Update examines a recent and significant decision involving a wage theft class action in the Federal Court, which was brought by a group of employees seeking payment for overtime they worked “regularly and extensively” without formal authorisation from their employer. While the decision dealt with an interpretation of the text of the employer’s […]
On 22 June 2022, the Fair Work Ombudsman (‘FWO’) Sandra Parker announced the Regulator’s priorities for the next 12 months, which have been expanded from focusing on supporting workers and businesses in recovering from the impacts of COVID-19 to include the university sector. The new focus on the university sector comes amid regular self-reports to […]
Wage theft is now a criminal offence in Queensland. Employers engaging in deliberate wage theft face up to 10 years imprisonment. Similar legislation has also been implemented in Victoria and the ACT. In this video, Kate Simpson from Aitken Legal talks about 3 ways to avoid prosecution for wage theft in Queensland. Wage affects around one in five Queensland […]
Can you be personally liable for an underpayment claim? In this video, Hamish Procter from Aitken Legal explains that we are regularly called upon to advise on matters where employees are alleging that they have been underpaid, or have not received particular Award entitlements. If, as an employer, you fail to comply with an applicable […]
What are the risks of underpaying your staff? As employment lawyers, we are often required to speak to employers about the risks of underpaying employees. Underpayment of wages has been an extremely topical issue in employment law over the past 3 or 4 years. Most recently, Queensland has introduced the criminal offence of wage theft, […]
The Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission this year determined an increase to the National Minimum Wage of 1.75%, and for the same increase to be applied to the minimum rates in each Modern Award. As Aitken Legal previously reported, the increases to Award rates of pay are to take place on a staged […]
The Criminal Code and Other Legislation (Wage Theft Amendment Act 2020 (Qld) commenced on 14 September 2020. The new legislation allows for the prosecution of wage theft as an offence of ‘stealing’ by amending the definition of stealing and introducing a higher maximum penalty where there is ‘stealing’ or ‘fraud’ by an employer with respect […]
The Federal Election has come and gone with a surprise win for Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the Coalition. In this alert we look at what a re-elected Coalition will mean for employers. Crack down on underpaying Employees ‘Wage theft’ is a hot topic and a big focus for the Government and the Fair Work […]
The Federal Circuit Court has ordered a company and its Director to pay over $570,000 in penalties and underpayments. Facts: A company has been found to have underpaid 23 employees over a period of eighteen months. Evidence was produced showing that the company decisively sought out young and vulnerable employees. Some of these employees were […]