A full Federal Court has largely dismissed the CFMMEU's broad-ranging appeal against more than $300,000 in fines imposed for attempting to force a contractor into signing a union-approved deal, agreeing only that publication orders served no purpose and that too much was made of an "eenie meenie miney mo!" text message.
The chair of a large charity and its managing director conspired to oust a problematic member of its finance team caught up in divisive internal politics, a Federal Circuit Court judge has found.
A McDonald's franchise that says it can otherwise stop workers from going to the toilet if it provides a 10-minute paid break contained in their agreement has told a court that Queensland's WHS Act does not entitle employees "to be protected from cruel and inhumane working conditions".
In a case highlighting the dangers of failing to engage with underpayments cases, an employer who did not respond to a claim it short-changed a teenage worker by $8000 must now pay him an additional $240,000 in penalties.
The CEPU has been fined $445,000 for historic reporting breaches, a Federal Court judge observing that the penalty would have been higher had the union not moved to clean up its act by employing a compliance officer.
A court has cleared the way for two accountants fighting a restraint of trade case to argue that their contracts were void if their employer breached implied terms requiring it to act lawfully and in accordance with the industry's code of ethics.
A Supreme Court judge has penalised but stopped short of jailing a salesperson for contempt, finding it likely he struggled to understand the "dense" undertakings he gave that he would not compete against his former employer for business.
A Federal Court judge has ordered two directors of a National Rugby League player management company to account for historic and future profits after finding they poached clients from their previous employer.
Rotary International's "egregious" dismissal of a Sydney-based manager who initiated an adverse action claim has earned it a $50,000 fine from a judge who singled out the organisation's US-based No.2 for her role in a breach that "struck at the heart" of Australian workplace laws.
The law firm behind a Crown class action says legislative change is needed after a full Federal Court quashed a decision that voided former employees' confidentiality obligations in order to aid the efficient administration of justice.
