Pharmacists will receive a 14.1% pay boost after a much-anticipated ruling by a FWC expert panel that scrutinised gender undervaluation, while employees under four other awards covering health professionals, disability services and daycare will have to wait for increases of up to 35% as questions of funding and new classifications are further investigated.
The ASU has welcomed an Albanese Government commitment "to support pay increases and better career pathways" for community and disability workers if re-elected, with Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt pledging funding for a workforce project to update the SCHADS Award.
Workers should not refuse to resolve bullying at a workplace level just because they have an anti-bullying case underway, the FWC has found in dismissing a chief executive's claim against her husband during divorce proceedings, finding only a single instance of unreasonable conduct.
The FWC has found a top sales operator made redundant the day before her parental leave started was in fact unfairly dismissed, with her employer apparently transferring into her role its lowest performer "by a significant margin".
A tribunal has ordered a lawyer to pay more than $41,000 of the $371,000 in costs Legal Aid Queensland accrued in defending her "protracted" discrimination and victimisation claims, finding her legal knowledge and lack of supporting evidence justified an order against her.
The FWC has upheld a worker's flexible work request after his employer ended an informal 13-year arrangement, in a decision reaffirming the precedence of the NES, even when it is inconsistent with the terms of an enterprise agreement.
It would have been "sensible" for a worker to take up the "generous support" offered by his employer, rather than filing an "unwarranted" anti-bullying claim, the FWC has ruled, finding a performance management plan, letter of expectations and a warning amounted to reasonable management action.
An employer failed to "adhere to basic standards of decency" when it made an employee on parental leave redundant in an email, without consultation, in "a case that exemplifies the benefits" of having some form of "keeping in touch" system during parental leave, the FWC has found.
The FWC has, at the same time as rejecting the unfair dismissal claim of a university lecturer who "relentlessly" pursued a personal relationship with a student, held that he s-xually harassed her and that his dishonesty provided a further valid reason to sack him.
A court has ordered Airservices Australia to reinstate a would-be firefighter who claims it discriminated him against him because of his type 1 diabetes.
