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 consumer regulator has launched court proceedings against luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz for allegedly exposing consumers to serious injury or death by failing to comply with obligations under a compulsory recall of potentially deadly Takata airbags.
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 funder backing a class action accusing two energy generators of gaming Queensland’s energy prices wants the Full Court to find the landmark Brookfield Multiplex ruling, which held that a litigation funding arrangement for a class action was a managed investment scheme, was wrongly decided.
New-Zealand dairy company a2 Milk has lost its opposition to registration by food and beverage giant Nestle of its NAN A2 trade mark for infant formula, with a delegate of the Trade Marks Office finding the mark was not substantially identical to a2’s logo.
Australia Post has agreed to pay former CEO Christine Holgate $1 million after the company’s board ordered her to stand down last year for spending $20,000 on Cartier watches for employees.
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.
The Commonwealth has been hit with a lawsuit alleging it failed to take climate change into account when it renewed an agreement with NSW for logging in the coastal areas between Sydney and Queensland in 2018.
Financial services giant Willis Towers Watson ordered a former executive to lie to clients on his way out of the organisation and imposed an “unreasonable” two-year employment restraint, a NSW Supreme Court has found.
An appeals court has upheld a ruling that Sydney law firm Bartier Perry failed to adequately advise a lawyer about his rights under a partnership agreement, but trimmed a $1.4 million damages award against the firm.
For information on rights and reprints, contact subscriptions@lawyerly.com.au
