The High Court has granted special leave to the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner in a case dealing with how the CFMEU’s history as a serial offender should have been considered when assessing the penalty the union should face for breaches of the Fair Work Act.
In a victory for gig economy workers, the Fair Work Commission has found that a Deliveroo driver who was sacked for not working fast enough was an employee, saying the company’s power to exert control over its workers with data collected through its app weighed in favour of a finding of that employer-employee relationship existed.
Three unions representing Qantas workers have asked the High Court for special leave to appeal a ruling from the Full Federal Court siding with the airline in a dispute over the operation of the JobKeeper wage subsidy.
The Transport Workers’ Union has amended its case against Qantas challenging a decision to outsource 2,000 jobs, after a Federal Court judge urged the union to consider narrowing the lawsuit against the airline.
The terms of the Fair Work Act do not guarantee employees of Qantas or potentially any workers in Australia the right to entitlements such as annual leave for work done while receiving JobKeeper payments, the Full Federal Court has ruled.
The Full Federal Court has upheld a ruling that the CFMEU was “knowingly concerned” in the refusal of union officers to produce entry permits at a Queensland building site, with the appeals court saying it was”difficult” to understand how the union was not an accessory to the contraventions of its employees.
In an important ruling that confines the scope of “industrial activity” under the Fair Work Act, the Full Federal Court has overturned a $50,000 fine against the CFMEU and two officials for organising a work stoppage at a Brighton construction site that the union said needed a female toilet.
A history of serial offending by the CFMEU could be factored into a court’s finding on the gravity of later breaches of the Fair Work Act, but not to the extent that the union pays a disproportionate penalty, the Full Federal Court has found in a significant ruling that settles conflicting case law.
Qantas Airways will challenge a court’s finding that it incorrectly applied the JobKeeper scheme and underpaid its staff.
The Federal Court has provided clarification as to how the Morrison government’s JobKeeper scheme operates, in a ruling against Qantas Airways that found the airline had incorrectly applied the scheme and underpaid its staff.