Academics say that while the High Court's recent Rossato judgment signals a shift to contract formalism that is likely to leave gig workers outside of labour law protections, significant developments in competition and consumer law might hold promise.
An FWC full bench has quashed a decision to compensate a union delegate unfairly sacked by Simplot a year ago and instead ordered it to reinstate him, holding a senior member weighed irrelevant considerations in deciding not to give him his job back.
The common law could play a "vital role" in securing a right to disconnect from smartphones and leave emails unanswered outside of working hours, but it requires a willing, affected worker with the means to pursue it, according to an Adelaide University academic.
A House of Representatives standing committee is set to conduct a "short, focused inquiry" into the effects of COVID-19 policy responses on the workplace and the FWC, while it is particularly keen to explore whether vaccine mandates "and demands upon staff to enforce mandates in the workforce, are likely to impact Commission caseload".
Labor's plan to give the FWC the power to deal with employee-like forms of work has been designed to avoid the deficiencies in domestic and overseas models that highly-flexible platforms have been able to readily evade, according to Shadow IR Minister Tony Burke.
An appeal board has in overturning an Indigenous eco-education officer's sacking for failing to undergo neurological tests emphasised the need for public sector employers to consider cultural factors when scheduling medical assessments, given the "history of colonial Government control over Aboriginal people and their bodies".
The Federal Court has dismissed an attempt for a group of wharfies to maintain their wages until their challenge against a COVID-19 vaccination mandate is decided at trial.
Major stevedore Patrick has withdrawn its application to terminate industrial action at its container terminals after the MUA agreed that no further action would be notified before December 10.
Assistant Attorney-General Senator Amanda Stoker has told a whistleblowing symposium today that the Morrison Government plans to strengthen support and protections for disclosers and to bring the public sector scheme into line with the private sector regime.
Maurice Blackburn has lodged a discrimination complaint with the Human Rights Commission on behalf of a Gold Coast teenager who alleges she lost her job at a pizza shop for inoculating herself against COVID-19.
