Employment

Two former Fortrend Securities advisors, who face litigation over their defection to a rival, have hit back with a lawsuit of their own alleging the brokerage’s CEO sent a string of angry emails in a dispute over who should foot the bill for client expenses.

The former head of brand marketing at cosmetics retailer Mecca Brands has sued the company and its chief marketing officer for allegedly using her maternity leave as a test to see if her position should be made redundant. 

A senior ABC producer has sued the broadcaster, alleging he’s owed $290,000 in underpayments, including for working an average 70 hours a week on the documentary series ‘Australian Story’.

The Fair Work Ombudsman has won its underpayments case against restaurant chain Sushi Bay and its director, with a judge finding the company forced migrant workers to pay back their entitlements in cash in a “calculated and institutional effort” to conceal wrongdoing. 

King & Wood Mallesons has snagged an industrial relations and employment law ace from Clayton Utz, who collaborated with the Attorney-General on implementing the recent Respect@Work reforms.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia and subsidiary CommSec have been hit with $10.34 million in penalties — the highest ever imposed in enforcement action by the workplace regulator — after admitting it underpaid thousands of employees more than $16 million.

Fast food giant KFC has served its defence in a class action alleging workers were deprived of their rest break entitlements, saying its obligation to provide the break was satisfied if staff were given the chance to stop work but chose not to.

Hospitality giant Merivale has agreed to settle an underpayments class action alleging it failed to pay workers amounts owed for overtime hours worked.

A judge has dismissed Aldi’s bid to have a class action alleging it underpaid Australian workers to the tune of $150 million summarily dismissed, saying the application was “not a suitable vehicle” to determine factual issues including whether a $17 million remediation nullifies the class action’s claims. 

A former Bureau of Meteorology senior executive was unfairly fired after taking a business-class trip to Paris, a court has found in a case that shines a light on the practice by government agencies to get around remuneration limits on public servants.