A judge is weighing up a law firm’s high legal costs against a union’s “bizarre” delay in a stoush over who should run a case against McDonald’s alleging 100,000 workers were denied rest breaks.
The question of whether judges have the power to hear employment cases as representative proceedings is headed to the Full Court after a union raised the issue as it battles to have its underpayments case against McDonald’s run instead of a Shine Lawyers class action.
The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association has flagged its intent to bring further cases against various McDonald’s franchisees, alongside eleven claims it has brought to date over alleged failures to give workers paid 10-minute breaks.
The criminal case brought by Victoria’s new employment watchdog against the NAB should take precedence over the bank’s case, which challenges the Wage Inspectorate’s interpretation of the Fair Work Act and has now dragged NSW into the fray, a court has heard.
A McDonald’s franchisee accused of failing to give employees paid rest breaks has hit back at a lawsuit filed by the retail workers’ union, arguing its employees took their entitled breaks, but sometimes in a “non-continuous” manner.