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".
In a decision highlighting the challenges facing employers attempting to manage stand-downs during the pandemic, the FWC has ordered a global aviation ground services company to compensate a part-time worker after favouring more valued employees.
In a decision stressing the importance of distinguishing between internships, work experience and clerkships at law firms, a FWC senior member has rejected a recent graduate's unfair dismissal claim on the basis he was not an employee.
The FWC has issued anti-bullying orders in a decision that highlights the workplace tensions that build from employees conducting business on their phones.
In a decision that has piqued the interest of local unions, a US National Labor Relations Board majority has upheld a ruling that deploying a giant "Scabby the Rat" near neutral employers did not amount to an illegal secondary boycott.
A FWC full bench has after granting the MUA permission to test the boundaries of what constitutes a "waterside worker" ultimately rejected its bid to revive an application for a majority support determination for control room operators at a liquefied gas storage facility.
Qantas says it will appeal today's Federal Court finding it breached adverse action provisions in outsourcing the remainder of its ground handling jobs while grappling with the pandemic, maintaining it was motivated "only by lawful commercial reasons".
In a case expected to have "far reaching consequences", the TWU has won its Federal Court adverse action case against Qantas over its shunning of the union's in-house bid when the airline decided to outsource the work of 2000 ground-handlers.
