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.
A member of a "very large" employer's six-strong "lean" HR team has convinced the FWC that complex argument over whether a sacked self-represented worker is an employee or contractor justifies external legal representation.
A landmark unfair dismissal case involving a former delivery rider for Foodora Australia Pty Ltd is set to continue tomorrow, despite the company last month going into voluntary administration.
The FWO has dropped its case against Foodora over alleged sham contracts, bringing to a premature close what was anticipated to be a significant test of the gig economy's employment relationships in Australia.
Three actors in a government-commissioned theatre production have failed to convince a court that they were employees engaged on "sham" contracts, rather than independent contractors.
The voluntary administrators of food delivery business Foodora Australia Pty Ltd say the process will give the company "essential breathing space", which includes a statutory stay on landmark legal proceedings testing whether its riders are employees or contractors.
The Fair Work Ombudsman's prosecution of food delivery service Foodora has been followed by a landmark decision on the gig economy by the UK Supreme Court.
Uber has repelled another attempt to establish that it is an employer, despite the FWC finding that a driver's relationship with the ride-sharing business was of "some magnitude".
Woolworths says it will train head contractors on their IR obligations, require all cleaning contractors to use a third-party payroll system and increase its auditing, after an FWO investigation revealed the retailer contributed to a culture of non-compliance in its Tasmanian cleaning supply chain.
