Staffing company faces $45M worker misclassification class action

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A unit of staffing company Programmed has become the latest target of a litigation blitz over casual workers, with the company facing a $45 million class action for allegedly failing to pay workers accrued annual leave and other entitlements.

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Reforms to target litigation funders and ‘lawfare’, Attorney-General says

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The Federal Government is considering reforms targeting litigation funders in response to what it has called a greater number of “increasingly politicised” class actions against companies in the mining and resources industry.

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Thiess workers owed unpaid wages for bus journeys, judge finds

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The Federal Court has ruled against mining services firm Thiess in a class action brought by construction workers seeking unpaid wages for time spent on the bus travelling home from work on the project site for a Pilbara-based liquefied natural gas processing plant owned by Woodside Energy.

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Bail conditions set in obstruction case against former BlueScope exec

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Bail conditions have been set for a former BlueScope Steel executive charged with obstructing an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission criminal cartel probe into the steel company, the first criminal charges ever brought against an individual in relation to an ACCC investigation.

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Full Federal Court rejects US exception to privilege against self incrimination

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The sole director and shareholder of OE Solutions can challenge a ruling ordering him to hand over seized documents to Australian automotive electronics developer Directed Electronics OE, with the Full Federal Court declining to adopt US precedent that carves out an exception to the privilege against self-incrimination for corporate custodians.

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Domino’s can’t block funder from viewing unredacted docs in class action

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The Federal Court has rejected an “unusual” confidentiality regime proposed by Domino’s Pizza Enterprises which would have resulted in restricted access to discovered documents for the funder backing the class action against the global fast food giant.

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Ex-Tennis Australia director Harold Mitchell was ‘determined’ to award Open rights to Seven, court hears

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Former Tennis Australia director Harold Mitchell was “pushing very hard” for the Seven Network to score the domestic broadcast rights to the Australian Open in 2013 over better offers from rival broadcasters, the Federal Court heard Monday.

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Nationwide drops judicial bias claim in Geoffrey Rush defamation appeal

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Nationwide News is backpedaling from claims that a $2.9 million defamation judgment won by actor Geoffrey Rush should be overturned because of apprehended bias on the part of the trial judge.

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Encompass patents don’t pass muster with IP Australia, despite amendment

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IP Australia has found two Encompass innovation patents that were at the centre of a highly anticipated Full Federal Court ruling on the patentability of computer software do not describe a manner of manufacture, despite an amendment from the financial software company.

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ASIC secures disqualifications, fines against Vocation directors

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Three former Vocation executives  — including former federal Treasurer John Dawkins — have been hit with disaqualification orders and fines totalling $125,000 after a court found they breached their directors’ duties ahead of the collapse of the education provider.

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