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 ETU is anticipating multiple backpay claims on behalf of thousands of labour hire and FIFO workers at resource, electrical supply and construction companies across Australia as part of a new campaign seeking to challenge their classification as casuals.
Unions have stepped up their criticism of the Morrison Government's legislation that extends to all "regular casual" workers a right to request conversion to part-time or full-time employment.
The Morrison Government should withdraw its casual conversion bill due to "serious problems", according to Adelaide University Professor of Law, Andrew Stewart, who has also opened fire on the "worse than useless" regulation introduced to purportedly address employers' liabilities in the wake of the Workpac v Skene ruling.
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.
A university's decision to slash casual tutors' rates for online student support almost four years into an agreement has been endorsed by the FWC, despite the member observing that the deal's definition of tutorial harked back to his long-gone days at law school.
The CFMMEU says the Federal Court has made an "outrageous decision" in directing that $1m held in a trust fund as a result of a case brought by the union now be shared by all former employees of the liquidated labour hire company One Key Workforce Pty Ltd.
Employers have decried as "unfixing a problem" a Labor attempt to disallow new casual loading offset regulations, Shadow IR Minister Brendan O'Connor countering that the rules are just the Government's way of shifting responsibility.
Maritime unions have failed to convince the FWC terminating two nominally-expired agreements that, in one case, had covered no workers since 2013 would sabotage the timetables of new dredging projects.
