Employer groups have stepped up pressure on the Morrison Government to prevent casual workers "double dipping" by claiming annual leave on top of 25% pay loading in the wake of a crucial decision by the Full Federal Court last month.
In a decision closely examining the circumstances under which casuals satisfy minimum employment periods, the FWC has found a solicitor's admission that he didn't prepare well for a competitive hiring process contributed to leaving him one month short of being protected from unfair dismissal.
The Full Federal Court has dismissed an employer's attempted challenge to an arbitrated decision by the FWC, finding that an enterprise agreement at Victoria's Yallourn power station and coal mine provided for "final and binding" dispute resolution.
Employers are warning of "massive liability" and instability for all who engage casuals and unions say it could be harder to use labour hire to "drive down costs", after a full Federal Court upheld a finding that a labour hire casual was in fact an employee entitled to annual leave payments.
The Fair Work Commission has rejected a push to give employers more scope to refuse requests by casual workers to convert to full-time and part-time work.
The FWC has described a kennel hand's dismissal as so unfair "even the dogs in the street know" it, putting the labradoodle breeders on notice to take better care of their puppies than they do of the humans they employ.
The ripples from a recent decision upsetting the authority on outer limits contract workers pursuing unfair dismissal claims have reached another jurisdiction, with the WA IR Commission ordering the reinstatement of a septuagenarian school traffic warden who had been "taken advantage" of by the employer.
A large employer's failure to tell an employee what claims were being investigated before conducting a recorded interview was among a number of flaws identified by the FWC in a procedurally "infected" dismissal.
A multinational company bungled what could otherwise have been a fairly straightforward dismissal of a detention officer who slept on the job, the FWC finding that "blindsiding" her with photographic evidence at the second of two meetings denied the otherwise exemplary employee procedural fairness.
A company providing first aid services at major events has been fined $250,000 for underpaying casuals after a medical certificate attesting its sole director was "unfit for work/school" over a five-day period that included the court hearing failed to secure an adjournment.
