The union advising Shine Lawyers on a $1 billion bid to recoup wages and entitlements for 4000 telecommunications workers allegedly misclassified as sub-contractors says the class action could finally answer a question historically avoided via settlement.
A judge denied the TWU procedural fairness when failing to provide an opportunity to argue against his unsignalled departure from an agreed position between the union and the ROC before imposing a $270,000 penalty for serious record-keeping breaches, a Full Federal Court has found.
Two AMWU delegates sacked by Visy for allegedly organising unprotected industrial action over a new drug and alcohol policy will have their delayed unfair dismissal cases heard after admissions by the union and one of its officials helped end entwined Federal Court proceedings today.
A lawyer must pay costs of $5000 to the CFMMEU for exercising "very poor judgment" while representing a deregistered company ordered to compensate five employees for underpayments.
A former GM Holden engineer is suing the company for adverse action, sham contracting and coercion, alleging it reduced her redundancy payout by more than $20,000 when she refused to sign a separation agreement without continuity of service covering her time as a contractor.
In a significant decision as to what constitutes industrial action, a full Federal Court has found that the legislative framework does not capture instances where a subcontractor's workers down tools with the support of their direct employer.
A judge accused of banging the bench and unreasonably dragging out a case involving a dismissed teacher has refused to recuse himself on the basis of apprehended bias, finding that the transcript and an "alarmingly small" range of available hearing dates pointed to a vastly different interpretation of events.
The Australian Industry Group is warning employers not to rush in to making agreement undertakings incorporating a recent key decision on casual leave until the Federal Court determines a challenge to the ruling's ambit.
Class action law firm Adero is lining up with the CFMMEU and the worker at the centre of a key casual leave ruling to intervene in Workpac's bid to block another casual from winning entitlements, arguing it is an abuse of process and that the issue could be better dealt with via a class action.
