Queensland police officers have failed to convince a Queensland IRC full bench that the Police Commissioner failed to consult them on a COVID-19 vaccine workforce mandate or lacked power to issue it, but the State's Supreme Court has opened the way for another challenge.
IR Minister Michaelia Cash will raise with FWC President Iain Ross a LinkedIn post by maverick Deputy President Lyndall Dean that endorses criticism of Australia's "Chinese-style totalitarian" health response to COVID-19, she told a Senate Estimates hearing this morning.
A Supreme Court judge has slapped down a FWC presidential member's "clarion call" for Australians to "vigorously" reject the notion of mandatory COVID-19 jabs, questioning her assertions about the efficacy of vaccines and declaring it is not her role to challenge the validity or appropriateness of public health orders.
A Filipino worker who relied on her husband to lodge a general protections claim has won more time to file after the FWC accepted his second Pfizer vaccination put him out of action for two days, while the tribunal has granted an extension in another case due to a lawyer's miscounting.
The Fair Work Act's stand down provisions enabled employers to shift the pandemic's economic risks to employees, according to new analysis by IR law experts Anthony Forsyth and Andrew Stewart, who also say legal uncertainty about the provisions could imperil the stand down strategies used by companies such as Qantas as business gradually resumes.
Australia had less need than other countries to turn to legislation to provide short-term workplace flexibility in response to COVID-19 because of "swift" and "bold" yet self-restrained interventions by the FWC, according to new research.
The FWC has thrown out a request from an ambulance paramedic sacked for refusing the influenza vaccination to refer purported questions of law to the Federal Court.
Two newly-incorporated associations of NSW paramedics and nurses want to join a legal challenge to the State's vaccination mandate for health workers, the NSW Supreme Court heard today.
Workers challenging NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard's ability to force them to be vaccinated have failed to subpoena Premier Gladys Berejiklian for documents she took into account when stating this month that it is "not in our power" to mandate inoculations.
The Federal Court is expected to rule this morning on a Qantas application to stay its decision on a remedy - including the possibility of reinstatement - for almost 1700 ground crew whose jobs the airline outsourced earlier this year.
