Employment

An appeals court has granted the Commonwealth’s bid to suppress material relating to its “conduct after capture” training in a discrimination case brought by a former ADF member, finding that a document is not in the public domain simply because it is available for inspection on the court file.

The Australian Law Reform Commission has called for reforms that would do away with a broad exception that allows religious schools to discriminate against students and staff on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

A judge has chided the Transport Workers Union for announcing at the start of trial that it intends to seek lost union dues from Qantas, as a hearing kicked off over the amount of compensation the airline owes to ground crew, whose jobs were illegally outsourced at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

A settlement of up to $1.325 million in an employment class action against labour hire firm Hays Specialist Recruitment has been approved, but a proposal by the applicant’s law firm to increase a promised limit on costs in order to resolve a row with a funder has drawn a judge’s ire.

A former senior associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers has sued the accounting giant alleging she was sacked after 16 years at the firm for making complaints about a supervisor’s “repeated bullying”.

A judge is planning to consolidate an employee class action and a union case against McDonald’s, saying the union can take a payout from any settlement, similar to how a funder receives a commission. 

Former AFL player and sports presenter Warren Tredea has failed in his $1.5 million breach of contract case against Channel 9, which terminated an agreement with him for refusing to have a COVID-19 vaccine.

A former lead partner in cybersecurity has sued Ernst & Young for expelling him after he was accused of threatening employees and mistreating female staff, saying the firm “ambushed” him and subjected him to “excessive” punishment. 

The theatre company behind a 2014 production of the Rocky Horror picture show has lost its bid to throw out actor Christie Whelan’s claims that she was victimised after allegedly suffering sexual harassment by fellow actor Craig McLachlan. 

The High Court has agreed to weigh in on whether employers should be on the hook for damages if they act negligently when dismissing a worker, granting special leave to a former employee at not-for-profit Vision Australia whose $1.4 million damages award was overturned on appeal.