A court has found an employer underpaid a worker by more than $230,000 because it "recklessly disguised the true legal nature" of a 20-year-plus employment relationship by classifying him as an independent contractor.
Queensland's Supreme Court has made a ruling suggesting that environmental clean-up costs trump employee obligations when companies fail, according to top-tier law firm Herbert Smith Freehills.
As the FWC calls for submissions on an employer bid to ditch the term "penalty rates" and replace it with "additional remuneration", a senior union-clientele lawyer is warning of a "slippery slope" if recognition of a need to compensate those working unsociable hours is removed.
The Federal Court has ordered a national sales manager to hand over external storage devices to his former employer after a forensic audit of his workplace laptop and email account revealed his secret plan to jump ship and negotiate a move to a competitor.
An FWC full bench has ordered a re-examination of the sacking of a worker for his "nonchalance" towards OHS obligations, lack of contrition after a workplace mishap and failure to wear safety glasses.
Information Commissioner Tim Pilgrim has upheld Australia Post's decision to deny a former worker access to internal documents he sought after allegedly hearing from a HR manager that two senior employees would be disciplined for "inappropriate comments" about him.