Over the past few years, the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO0 has been swamped by cases of big corporations underpaying staff, including Coles, McDonald's and
While there are current regulations in the Fair Work Act to protect employees, there have long been calls for greater sanctions for wage theft. In recent years, a report by the
Wage theft to become a crime in |
Last year, the Victorian Parliament passed legislation to make the deliberate underpayment of wages a crime. The new laws do not come into effect until later this year.
Additionally, the federal government's omnibus bill introduced last year, includes making wage non-compliance a crime, recently passed the lower house but has yet to be passed in the senate.
The Bill proposes penalties up to 4 years imprisonment,
Underpayments |
The FWO has confirmed that
It's understood the underpayments primarily relate to members of the workforce not covered by union collective agreements, and that the bill is expected to run into many hundreds of thousands of dollars, possibly millions.
Embattled corporation |
This is yet another blow for the embattled corporation, which is facing allegations of facilitating money laundering, and was recently informed it is not fit to hold a licence for its casino at Barangaroo in
An inquiry by the
Crown repeatedly denied allegations calling the media reports a smear campaign and listing the reasons why it stood by its integrity. However, the Bergin Inquiry uncovered evidence that Crown turned a blind eye to money laundering by organised criminal syndicates by working through junket operators to infiltrate its casinos in
The inquiry heard that agencies including
Several more investigations underway |
As a result of the Bergin Inquiry, last month the Western Australian government announced an inquiry into the operations of the
The Victorian Government also announced a
The AFP is also now investigating a report referred by Justice
Late last year the federal government referred allegations to the ACLEI following information published by mainstream media including The Age,
Leaked emails also suggested that Australian visa and consulate officials in
Proposed reforms for the gambling sector |
In
It has been given an opportunity to address the breaches in a bid to be able to open the
The Bergin Inquiry made a series of recommendations for legislative reform in
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
Ms
Sydney Criminal Lawyers
503/
Tel: 29261 8881
Fax: 29264 0880
E-mail: info@sydneycriminallawyers.com.au
URL: www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/
© Mondaq Ltd, 2021 - Tel. +44 (0)20 8544 8300 - http://www.mondaq.com, source