A sizeable group of employment lawyers from K&L Gates has parted ways with the US legal giant to set up its own specialist shop, shaking up the market for employment law services in Australia.
Litigation funder Augusta Ventures has brought its promised appeal of a groundbreaking ruling that put it on the hook for paying security for costs in an employment class action over the classification of casual mine workers.
Macquarie Bank has been hit with another lawsuit by former financial advisers who claim the bank underpaid them to the tune of $4.8 million by remunerating them solely in commission when they were entitled to a regular wage.
A former Piper Alderman partner who filed a sex discrimination case against the law firm and was ousted from the partnership months later, is pressing on with her legal action, which was stayed while her complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission played out.
Acclaimed ‘Underbelly’ actor Damien Walshe-Howling is defending allegations that he sexually harassed an extra on the set of Channel Ten’s ‘Bikie Wars’ when he grabbed the actress and forced his tongue into her mouth.
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.
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.
A scientist alleging she was fired from the CSIRO for filing sex discrimination and sexual harassment complaints has had the majority of her lawsuit against the government body dismissed, with the court finding she fabricated evidence and that an incident in which she was slapped on the backside with a riding crop by her supervisor and told to “get back to work” did not amount to sexual harassment.
The Fair Work Ombudsmand has vowed to hold Woolworths to account after the supermarket giant disclosed Wednesday it had underpaid thousands of employees up to $300 million and was “deeply sorry”.
The litigation funder that backed a now dismissed class action against aviation service provider Airservices has argued funders should not face costs orders in Fair Work class actions, with a judge saying the debate raised “a point of high principle”.