A full Federal Court has overturned a ruling that Sydney Trains unlawfully discriminated against a trainee driver it sacked for failing to disclose that she had ADHD and autism, finding a judge relied on a "number of interrelated assumptions" unsupported by evidence.
A FWC full bench led by president Adam Hatcher has overturned a two-month suspension of ETU strikes against Transgrid, taking the opportunity to lay out the correct approach to assessing safety commitments when considering whether protected industrial action should be stopped or suspended.
The High Court has refused to hear a major hospitality group's challenge to a finding that a FWC bench did not show bias when it raised concerns about an already-approved agreement ultimately revealed to have been voted up by three venue managers and a payroll employee not covered by it.
The High Court has granted the ACCC special leave to challenge the full Federal Court's quashing of a finding that the CFMEU's construction division induced and had knowing involvement in major building company J Hutchinson's unlawful boycott of a non-union waterproofing subcontractor.
A FWC full bench has clarified what constitutes "significant" damage to the national economy and when an employer can be considered an "important part" of it, in reasons for overturning the suspension of protected action by sugar industry workers.
In a judgment that casts a harsh light on agreement drafting, a Federal Court majority has described crucial elements of a multinational paint company's since superseded deals as a "jumble of random terms", before quashing a finding that six misclassified warehouse workers had been underpaid.
Unions locked in the Wilmar Sugar dispute say they have held over an urgent application to stay a ban on protected action, ahead of a FWC full bench appeal on Friday.
In a decision with broad implications for the disability services sector, a care provider has failed to overturn a ruling that a worker who signed two contracts describing her as an independent contractor is in fact an employee capable of suing it for alleged unlawful dismissal.
Extending employers' duty of care to the disciplining and sacking of workers would not "frustrate" contractual certainty or disrupt businesses, lawyers for a charity's former consultant have told the High Court.
An employer did not discriminate against a lawyer when it twice declined to roll over short, fixed-term contracts that would have entitled her to paid maternity leave, an appeal panel has found.
