Australian businesses have been urged to double check that their casual work contracts reflect a “true casual engagement” and ensure workers are properly classified following a landmark High Court ruling on casual worker classification.
The law firm that’s running seven class actions challenging the ‘casualisation’ of mine workers says the cases still have a way forward despite suffering a “disappointing setback” from the High Court’s finding that a Glencore mine worker was a casual employee because he worked on an “assignment-to-assignment” basis.
The High Court has found casual employees who work regular shifts are not entitled to paid annual, personal and compassionate leave under the Fair Work Act, putting the fate of seven class actions by casual miners in question.
Apple plans to appeal the Full Federal Court’s decision that Epic Games’ misuse of market power lawsuit over it App Store terms should be heard in Australia because the case raises issues of “fundamental public interest”.
Global resources giant BHP Group is seeking special leave from the High Court to appeal a ruling that rejected its bid to exclude foreign investors from a shareholder class action over the 2015 Fundao dam disaster.
US chemical company Quaker Chemical is seeking special leave from the High Court to appeal a Full Court judgment that found its patents for quickly detecting high pressure fluid injection injuries on site were not novel because the company had disclosed them in public prior to applying for registration with IP Australia.
The High Court has rejected a bid by a group of insurers to weigh in on a test case against COVID-19 related claims in business interruption policies, following a high stakes loss in the NSW Court of Appeal, which found an infectious disease exclusion did not apply.
The High Court on Friday denied special leave to three unions representing Qantas workers that sought to challenge a Federal Court ruling for the airline in a dispute over the operation of last year’s COVID-19 JobKeeper wage subsidy.
The High Court has declined to hear a case that challenges the power of judges to make common fund orders at the close of litigation, a challenge the Federal Court had labelled “hypothetical”.
Sacked climate skeptic professor Peter Ridd brought his case challenging his dismissal by James Cook University to the High Court on Wednesday, with a lawyer for Ridd telling the justices that his sacking was unlawful because intellectual freedom was a “foundational’ principle that could not be subordinated to the university’s code of conduct.