Legal page 3 of 564

A full Federal Court has clarified the extent to which employers must investigate alternative roles for workers caught up in restructures, finding that a mining company had an obligation to assess whether employees could replace already-engaged contractors before making them redundant.

The FWC is seeking submissions on the latest phase of its research on gender-based occupational segregation, which has been released ahead of this year's annual wage review.

A court has accepted that Melbourne University threatened two casual workers that "if you claim outside your contracted hours don't expect work next year" and when one worker tried to claim five additional hours it refused to further engage her, calling her a "self-entitled Y-genner" on a "crusade behind the scenes".

The FWC is considering whether to provide a "generous opportunity" for organisations with a broader interest to participate in two MEU "same job, same pay" test cases that aim to lift the pay of Programmed and Workpac labour hire mine workers.

A café owner penalised for ignoring a FWO compliance notice has been referred to a legal profession regulator after variously describing herself as a "Commonwealth public prosecutions Lawyer" and "Gov lawyer" in emails to a court.

A non-compete clause is business's "bluntest tool in the shed" and Australia should look to international limits on restraints of trade that enable workers to switch jobs more easily and give businesses other options to protect their interests, Assistant Competition Minister Andrew Leigh told the McKell Institute today.

Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth will next week hold the first meeting of a new tripartite advisory group, as her organisation prepares for the new criminal penalties regime and "safe harbour" mechanisms for employers who transgress but are willing to lift their games.

In a decision sure to catch the eye of service providers using rostering apps to keep workers at arm's length, the FWC has found that a home care worker who signed two documents describing her as an independent contractor is in fact an employee capable of suing her employer for unlawful dismissal.

The law firm whose advocacy helped spur the FWC to consider regulating paid agents has called for improved "referral pathways" that steer workers contesting their dismissals towards pro bono clearing houses, Legal Aid and the community legal sector.

An employer is opposing a CFMEU request to have the FWC hold a joint post-PABO compulsory conciliation conference relating to two separate deals for its workers on the Cross River Rail project in South-East Queensland.