A senior FWC member has in awarding costs against a law firm queried its "irreconcilable" explanations for missing filing deadlines in an unfair dismissal case.
The High Court's Rossato judgment is already having a knock-on effect, with a FWC full bench questioning its effect on Deliveroo's appeal of a finding that a rider was an employee and proposing not to determine it until the High Court decides two more cases.
A tribunal has ordered a restaurant manager accused of drugging and raping a bartender to pay aggravated and other damages of $150,000, after leaving the vulnerable international student too traumatised to keep working in the hospitality sector.
The FWC has ordered indemnity costs against a financial advisor held to have pursued a "meritless" unfair dismissal application nine months after resigning and a vexatious appeal because he believed his former employer was backing out of a separation deal.
Apologies and claims that he conducted himself "out of character" have not spared a union official having his entry permit suspended over a confrontation in which he told a site foreman he did "give a f--k" what happened because he was near the end of his career.
IR academics say the High Court's "revolutionary" approach in Rossato signals an intention to rewrite the rules for determining employment status, with potentially dire consequences for gig workers and others seeking to challenge their characterisation.
A full Federal Court has quashed a software company's $5.2 million general protections payout and ordered a retrial after finding that the judge in awarding record compensation to the former Victorian state manager failed to provide adequate reasons in his 350-page decision.
McCain Foods acted "pre-emptively" when it locked out workers at a Tasmanian potato processing plant before they embarked on protected action, the Fair Work Commission heard today.
Employers once said to be facing up to $38 billion in casuals' backpay claims have welcomed today's High Court confirmation that contracts are decisive in determining employment types, while workers' representatives have come out swinging.
The FWC has blocked a large employer's bid to move workers on to higher-paid staff roles as part of a restructure, telling the company the decision will "increase [its] cost benefits".
