In the latest ruling on the distinction between independent contractors and employees, the FWC has found that a graphic designer whose hours for related small employers were "negotiated" on a weekly or fortnightly basis over almost three years was capable of being dismissed.
The FWO must pay half the legal costs of a Norwegian shipping company accused of short-changing 60 crew, the Federal Court chastising the watchdog for "doggedly" pushing to hold it liable even though it already repaid them, fully cooperated and could not have known of the contraventions.
A senior FWC member who must redetermine Alcoa's bid to terminate its main WA deal has dismissed the AWU's contention that she is required to consider all appeal grounds afresh.
The FWC has held that an agreement negotiated with two train drivers but set to cover an entire transferred workforce on the Roy Hill Pilbara mine network was not genuinely agreed, but it is asking whether this is a minor error that can be dealt with via an undertaking, "odd as that may be".
The Federal Court has ordered a construction company to reinstate an electrician until it decides whether it took adverse action by sacking him within 10 days of his becoming a health and safety representative and reporting suspected asbestos in a water tunnel.
The Federal Circuit Court has ordered indemnity costs against two casual employees who refused offers to settle their adverse action and award breach cases for $10,000 and maintained their demands for $95,000 payouts.
The FWC has rejected a claim that a chemist operator's HR chief and two managers bullied a pharmacist by failing to roster enough support staff to assist him on Saturday shifts.
A full Federal Court has upheld a finding that agreement-sanctioned union stopwork meetings can be freely used to delay and disrupt business as part of a campaign strategy, but has increased fines for the CFMMEU's coercion of head contractor Hutchison by almost 30%.
A dispute between Macquarie Bank and 15 former employees who allege they were underpaid more than $2.6 million looks destined for a full hearing after the Federal Circuit Court rebuffed the parties' request for mediation by a judge.
The FWC has upheld the sacking of a Telstra business centre's IT technician accused of supplying drugs, accessing p-rnography, sending the director's confidential documents outside the company and remotely locking the entire workplace out of the network during an investigation into his conduct.
