MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR -

In this edition of the Update, we report on Woolworths' commitment to identify and address human rights risks in its Australian supply chains. We then discuss a class action expected to be lodged by a trade union on behalf of thousands of underpaid independent contractors, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics' Wage Price Index Report for the September quarter 2017.

We then consider a Fair Work Commission decision in which a large employer's lawyers were denied permission to represent the employer in unfair dismissal proceedings. Finally, we comment upon a decision of the Federal Court of Australia in which significant civil penalties were imposed on an employer and the employer's HR manager in relation to the underpayment of employees.