Employment

Employment relations company Employsure has been taken to court by the consumer watchdog for allegedly duping small businesses into signing long-term contracts after promising free workplace advice that appeared to be government affiliated.

Hytera Communications has been ordered to hand over source code that Motorola Solutions claims was stolen by three employees who jumped ship between the companies.

An employer group has lost an appeal to the Full Federal Court to overturn the merger of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union with two other unions.

A judge facing calls to recuse himself from a dispute between law firm Norton Rose Fulbright and a dismissed employment partner has avoided hearing the disqualification application, with the case being allocated to another judge.

Labour hire company Workpac has been fined just $1,650 after a groundbreaking Full Federal Court decision that a casual employee could be eligible for annual leave, with a judge saying the low penalty reflected the lack of clarity in the law.

The Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy union has lost its bid to be heard by the High Court of Australia after an appeals court upheld a $306,000 fine for the illegal conduct of its former Queensland president and warned of the prospect of deregistration.

Former HWL Ebsworth special counsel Dr Gary Rumble's insistence that he believed he had carte blanche to criticise one of the law firm's clients is an "untenable stretch," the Federal Court heard Wednesday.

Labour on-hire and recruitment company CoreStaff is facing a class action alleging it violated the consumer laws by luring workers to Australia from Papua New Guinea with the promise of long-term work, only to terminate their employment agreements less than three years after they relocated.

A Foodora delivery rider has won $15,600 in an unfair dismissal case hailed as a test case for the gig economy, with the Fair Work Commission finding the rider was an employee, not an independent contractor of the failed company.