EWIN HANNAN APRIL 08, 2014 THE AUSTRALIAN A QUEENSLAND restaurant worker who was told he would be sacked on his 65th birthday has been awarded $10,000 in compensation and the restaurant’s operators fined almost $30,000. The case is the first time the federal workplace watchdog, the Fair Work Ombudsman, has taken legal action against a company on the basis of age discrimination. After raising questions about his pay, Cheng Peng Lee was informed by his employers that it was company policy to sack workers once they reached retirement age. The company, Theravanish Investments, operate Thai restaurants on the Gold Coast. A letter from the company accountant said it was “the policy of the company that we do not employ any staff that attain the retirement age, which in your case is 65 years”. Mr Lee, 64-years-old at the time, had worked full time for the company for 15 years until…

Yolanda Redrup 08 April 2014 SmartCompany Australian franchise Pie Face is embroiled in a legal battle with a former franchisee, who is alleging the pie chain was misleading and deceptive when communicating the expected returns for the franchise stores. Former franchisee Prit Dutta launched court action in February this year claiming the earnings information provided by Pie Face prior to his purchase of two stores was “not based on reasonable grounds and was incomplete”. Dutta told SmartCompany he’s seeking $800,000 in damages. Dutta, who once owned two Pie Face stores in central Brisbane, says he’s not the only one to have been allegedly misled by Pie Face. “Basically in short, six out of seven Brisbane CBD store franchisees have faced financial losses or store shut down. The Albert Mall store has seen it twice,” he says. “The story is the same in Sydney and Melbourne. Too many stores are located…

James Thomson April 9, 2014 The Age Woolworths might already be a household name in Australia, but local shoppers are going to get used to another, quite different company of the same name after South Africa’s Woolworths Holdings lobbed a $2.15 billion takeover for David Jones. This is giant deal for Woolworths Holdings, which has a market capitalisation of $5.5 billion and annual revenues of $4 billion, compared with DJs revenue of $1.8 billion. But South African retail giant does not want for local knowledge and could have an ace in its pack in the form of chief executive Ian Moir. Mr Moir is best known in the Australian market as the chief executive of Country Road, the upmarket clothing and homewares group in which Woolworths Holdings owns an 88 per cent stake. Mr Moir was appointed the board of Country Road in October 1998, serving as chief operating officer…

Michael Pascoe April 9, 2014 The Age You’ve been told it was the internet, that it was the economy, it was high wages, the government, the consumer, that it was the strong Australian dollar or maybe the weak Australian dollar. It was anything but second-rate management and dull boards that were responsible for Australian retail’s poor performance – yet it turns out it was poor management all along. As South Africa’s Woolworths joins the push of international shopkeepers into the Australian market with its David Jones takeover bid, it’s another indication of outsiders seeing value and opportunity that the locals had missed. Marked down Most obviously in fashion, a wave of luxury brands have set up shop and pushed DJs down to mid-market status. Zara and now H&M are raking the money in with fast fashion – in Zara’s case, at a better margin than it achieves internationally. And more…

PAULA BEAUCHAMP APRIL 09, 2014 HERALD SUN THERE was a time when head of Zoos Victoria Jenny Gray felt closest in the animal kingdom to the beaver. “I work hard and I like to shape and change things around me,” the South African-born executive says. Today, the three-time zoo CEO believes she’s aligned more closely with the meerkat. “I’m a more collaborative species these days,” she laughs. “I like working together with others to achieve a common purpose, so I’d say I’m most like them.” Ms Gray will this May share the lessons she has learned — including those from the various animals she has worked with — during her upward rise to the rank of chief executive. As one of five women featured in the Australian Institute of Management’s Outstanding Women Series, she hopes her journey will inspire other women in business. “When I worked at a bank nobody…