The CFMMEU has told the High Court that applying the multifactorial test to determine if a worker is an employee or independent contractor is a "vacuous" approach without ultimately establishing whether they are conducting their own business.
The FWC has found the redundancy of a FIFO labour hire coal mineworker affected by COVID-19 travel restrictions not genuine, holding that Workpac failed to meet its consult obligations after BHP said it no longer needed him.
The FWC has upheld the dismissal of a student visa holder who punched a co-worker in the face after accusing him of saying "a lot of bad things" about a colleague she claimed was regularly being sexually assaulted by local Japanese gangsters.
The High Court is likely to hear the Personnel Contracting/ZG Operations and Ridd cases in the second half of the year, after setting timetables for submissions to be completed by early June.
A FWC member has resisted criticising labour hire company Workpac for mishandling the redundancies of five mine workers due to "extraordinary" COVID-19 circumstances but expressed disbelief at resource giant South32's ignorance of its supplier's statutory obligations.
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese is set to promise to legislate job security as a key objective of the Fair Work Act, along with empowering the FWC to set minimum standards for gig workers.
In a significant decision on FWC powers, a full bench has found the tribunal could not force a labour hire company to reinstate a worker to his former job at client Carlton United Breweries, given the beer giant was contractually entitled to order his removal.
BHP Billiton is sounding out employees in its fast-growing in-house labour hire operation on "simple, safety net" agreements that include a guarantee to pay 5% more than the award to full-time and part-time employees.
A workforce management company supplying technicians to the NBN, Telstra and Foxtel has failed to convince a full Federal Court that it should knock out a class action on behalf of at least 3350 workers allegedly misclassified as subcontractors.