The FWC has held that it cannot deal with a worker's casual conversion dispute as the recent sale of the business she works for has restarted the clock on her requirement to complete 12 months' service with her current employer.
The FWC has found an IR consultant's failure to check his emails after business hours on a Friday or the following Monday wholly to blame for a day-late unfair dismissal claim, extending time for his client to argue it unfairly retrenched her after she converted to casual employment.
A FWC full bench has refused to extend a farm's 16-year-old deal for 12 weeks beyond next month's sunsetting of zombie agreements, describing the application as an effort to pay below-award rates for "one more" onion-picking season.
The Albanese Government's promised amendments to casual employment laws will do almost nothing to address employer concerns, according to legal advice from law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth, while Workpac says it is concerned about "deeply troubling" comments on the casuals provisions by a senior DEWR official.
The Australian Hotels Association has defended its "constructive" approach to negotiations with the Albanese Government on casuals provisions in the Loopholes Bill, after it won concessions that peak body ACCI and other employer organisations say should be rejected.
The Closing Loopholes Bill is unlikely to reduce reliance on long-term casual employment and will not expose employers to "unnecessary uncertainty", a leading IR law academic says, contradicting barrister Stuart Wood's recent advice to the BCA.
Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke has committed to make significant changes in the way the Closing Loopholes Bill treats casual work, according to the Australian Hotels Association.
The FWC has castigated an employer for its "unconscionable" and "intimidatory" written notice suggesting that a casual duty manager committed theft and fraud when she failed to pay for a drink or offer an explanation for missing stock, while it has also lambasted its representative, Clubs NSW, for its "unprofessional" conduct in characterising her conduct as criminal.
Resources employer group AREEA says the Loopholes Bill's labour hire provisions lack a proper exemption for specialist contractors and will kill off the use of on-hire workers, despite Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke's assurances that the drafting would take "very full account" of its concerns.
A leading IR lawyer says the Albanese Government's third tranche casuals provisions are a win for employers as they will provide "considerable certainty", but he predicts an ambiguous independent contracting test will produce "windfall gains and windfall losses".
