Employment

The National Australia Bank has denied claims by a former senior employee that she was bullied and paid less than other workers because of her gender, saying a manager did not brandish a baseball bat in a threatening way but merely carried it around as a ‘fidget toy’.

Victoria has pledged to become the first state in Australia to restrict the use of non-disclosure agreements in workplace sexual harassment cases, which are used to silence victims and protect companies and harassers.

The former CEO of fleet manager Orix Australia, who escaped charges of corruption three years ago, will have to take his claims for $1 million in unpaid leave to a hearing after losing a pre-trial bid for judgment.

A judge overseeing the settlement approval of an underpayments class action against telco contractor BSA has questioned whether litigation funders should receive commissions lower than the market rate for running employment class actions.

A former Norton Rose Fulbright digital marketing manager is trying to revive her allegations that the firm fired her after she complained of bullying and sex discrimination by her supervisor.

A judge has questioned the Finance Sector Union’s idea to use a survey to gather evidence about 3,000 employees who claim the Commonwealth Bank of Australia failed to provide them with paid rest breaks for at least six years.

Virgin Australia will seek to throw out a case brought by former employees over a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, which a lawyer for Qantas and Jetstar, which are also named in the suit, said “breaks every pleading rule”.

Telco contractor BSA has won a bid to ringfence a $13 million capital raising from a $20 million settlement reached with group members in a Shine Lawyers-led class action accusing the company of misclassifying its workforce of technicians as independent contractors.

A judge has told journalist Tegan George to rework her sex discrimination claims against Network Ten, following an interlocutory stoush over her claims that the network’s Canberra bureau, led by high profile political reporter Peter van Onselen and executive editor Anthony Murdoch “was a workplace that was hostile to women.”

Melbourne-based aged care facility St Basil’s has been hit with nine charges by the state’s workplace safety watchdog over a COVID-19 outbreak that resulted in 45 resident deaths.