A review of the 2015 amendments to the Fair Work Act's greenfields agreements provisions has rejected union pleas to axe "last offer" arbitration - despite a failure by employers to utilise it - and has recommended reducing from six months to three the "negotiating period" before the FWC can break deadlocks.
In a decision where the employer's case was embarrassingly "scuttled" by its own witness, a senior FWC member has found that Ausgrid failed to inform four safety specialists during job interviews that they wouldn't be receiving an allowance due to them under the relevant agreement.
In a significant decision on multi-hiring arrangements, a court has ruled that an Australia Post employee holding two "separate and distinct" part-time positions could not base overtime and other entitlements on combined hours.
In a novel decision on the need to consider alternative duties for incapacitated workers, the FWC has found an agreement clause requiring directions to be reasonable trumped BHP Coal's common law right to refuse to allow a mineworker to perform only part of his job.
An FWC full bench has refused to vary six retail awards to give workers an extra day's pay or a day off when public holidays fall their on non-working days, but has found insufficient evidence to establish an employer claim that it would have cost businesses up to $267 million a year.
Employers are not automatically entitled to reduce roster allowances when working hours fall below an agreement's "indicative" threshold, a court has found.
Ai Group says it will challenge an FWC full bench's series of draft model clauses imposing "onerous record-keeping requirements" and other complex conditions that it claims would negate the benefits of annualised wage arrangements.
In a ruling as to what constitutes "physical effort", a court has found that opening or removing curtains and straps securing a truck's load did not qualify a driver for an extra allowance under a transport industry award.
The aviation services company Aerocare is pushing ahead with a hotly-contested application in the Federal Court to overturn the Fair Work Commission's rejection of a proposed new enterprise agreement.
