The labour hire company that last year laid out $150,000 to settle an underpayments claim brought by five fruit pickers has settled another case on behalf of more than 20 workers with "acceptable monetary terms" and the right to return to work.
Victoria's labour hire regulatory scheme has opened to mixed reviews, welcomed by the academic who headed a landmark inquiry into the sector but dubbed a "blunt instrument" by a key employer group.
Employers should pay close attention to their "extended workforce" before being forced to do so by increased regulation and public scrutiny, according to former Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James.
A large pharmaceutical company is obliged to convert labour hire workers to permanent positions after a year's continuous employment, the FWC ruling that the relevant agreement clause was a permitted matter because it promoted job security.
The FWC has rejected a multi-pronged attempt by four retrenched dockworkers to establish that they were not genuinely redundant, finding their employer's offer to re-engage them as casuals did not detract from its need to reduce its full-time workforce.
The CFMMEU will this week seek to intervene in a class action pursuing leave entitlements for thousands of Workpac's on-hire casual black coal mine workers, at a hearing expected to also deal with the company's bid to block another casual, Robert Rossato, from winning entitlements.
Ahead of a hearing into Workpac's bid to stop casuals winning leave entitlements, Adero Law says more than 600 mineworkers have already joined a new class action against the labour supplier that seeks to claw back up to $84 million for about 7000 on hire casuals.
After providing $150,000 to settle an underpayments claim brought by five fruit pickers last year, labour hire company Agri Labour Australia is facing a new claim from 26 seasonal workers alleging they were short-paid more than $200,000.
The CFMMEU says two pared-back production and maintenance BHP agreements awaiting approval in the FWC would create an "in-house, cut-price labour hire workforce" and a "template for the mining industry to get around Skene".
