Penalty rates are choppy water for business chiefs, just ask Richard Murray. The JB Hi-Fi chief executive remarked in January at the KPMG's Couta Boats regatta that he would like to see penalty rates on Saturdays and Sundays "better aligned".

It was a sentiment shared at the event off Sorrento by Nufarm chairman Donald McGauchie and Medibank boss Craig Drummond. And so was born the social media phenomenon #yachtbanter where union-friendly punters around the country lampooned the industry captains for complaining about pay rates whilst enjoying a day's sailing.

In the intervening months the Fair Work Commission decided to grant the wish, cutting the penalty rates on offer for retail and hospitality works to, well, better align them with those available on Saturdays.

So CBD was intrigued to see Murray out in public on Monday revealing that JB would not be passing through the cuts in penalty rates to its workforce.

Labor's workplace relations spokesman Brendan O'Connor was quick out of the blocks with a press release to congratulate them on the move but also to urge them to not grandfather the entitlement to only current employees.

CBD was at this point seriously confused, was this a case of "do as I do, not as I say" from Murray?

Well, no. Brendan may not have got to the fine print, but the company is being quite clear the policy applies only to existing staff; new hires will get the new-look penalty rates.

A statement from JB Hi-Fi to CBD reads, ahem, thus: "Staff employed after 1 July 2017 will receive terms and condition that reflect the Fair Work [Commission] ruling.

"We are always transparent with staff. Existing staff would be losing a benefit that was already in their remuneration whereas a new employee makes a choice whether they feel the Group offers competitive remuneration under the award."

Still that didn't stop much of the #yachtbanter crowd congratulating JB Hi-Fi on social media. Well we wouldn't want to go overboard, would we?

New banker

The Commonwealth Bank has signed up a former staffer of energy and environment minister Josh Frydenberg, Matt Francis, as the latest member of its public affairs team.

It comes at a time when it can't hurt for the banking giant led by Ian Narev to have another potential line into the federal government, after the recent barrage of bank-busting policies coming from Canberra.

Remember, this is an industry that has copped not just a bank tax, but also a competition probe, a rolling parliamentary inquiry, and the industry regulator will soon also have more power to vet senior executives, and influence how they are paid.

Not to mention those pesky calls for a royal commission into the entire financial sector.

Francis's most recent job was with Newgate, the communications consultancy that has the Australian Banker's Association among its clients.

He'll be looking after the bank's wealth division, and working under communications boss Kate Abrahams.

Not quite cloud nine

ASX-listed cloud software provider Bulletproof Networks has found someone who thinks they can find a chink the company's armour.

Kiwi outfit Cloud House has lodged a legal claim against Anthony Woodward's Sydney-based Bulletproof in the New Zealand High Court (similar to our Supreme Courts) alleging Bulletproof has been up to no good.

Cloud House (also a cloud computing provider) sold its business assets to Bulletproof Group in January 2016 in a $NZ5 million deal we imagine was described at the time as "choice as bru".

Like many sale agreements, the deal included an earn out provision that should have delivered post-sale payments to Cloud House based on revenue and profit hurdles.

But nek minnit – as one famous Kiwi saying goes – things have gotten stormy across the ditch and Cloud House has turned from a gentle cirrus-shaped affair into a thundering cumulonimbus.

"The claim alleges that Bulletproof's management and business decisions after the acquisition of the Cloud House business resulted in Cloud House not achieving the earn out to which it was alleged to be entitled," Bulletproof said in a statement.

"The claim also alleges that Cloud House was misled as to Bulletproof's capabilities, customer base and access to managed services," the statement adds.

Cloud House claims it lost $NZ3.88 million from the alleged misrepresentations and alleged management stuff-up.

Bulletproof disagrees saying the claim is "without merit". CBD is happy to leave this one up to a judge to decide if it really is sweet as.