Sham contractors face higher penalties and a harder time showing they have inadvertently misrepresented employment arrangements under legislative changes contemplated by a Treasury discussion paper.
The FWC has rebuked CFMMEU officials and managers of a Queensland fabrics manufacturer over a series of entry disputes, describing their behaviour as "big on bravado and short on professionalism".
An FWC full bench has upheld a decision that rejected a multinational drilling company's deal without first inviting it to respond to every concern, confirming that a denial of procedural fairness would not have guaranteed a new hearing anyway.
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 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.
The FWC's landmark ruling that a former Foodora rider was an employee is unlikely to have implications for other major gig economy platforms like Uber and Deliveroo, according to leading IR law academic Andrew Stewart.
The push to criminalise so-called "wage theft" by employers might be a less effective deterrent than an increased number of civil prosecutions, according to a new academic paper.
