The need for employers to consider the individual circumstances of employees taking industrial action before they institute disciplinary action has been demonstrated in a FWC finding that a company unfairly dismissed a crane driver who belatedly joined an unlawful stop-work meeting.
The Federal Court has ruled that the Fair Work Act's general protections provisions cover a wide range of employment complaints, but said they were not the reason for a client services manager's sacking.
The Federal Court has rejected mining giant Rio Tinto's bid to have a CFMEU adverse action claim struck out, holding the Fair Work Act does not authorise "discriminatory" payments.
The Federal Court has ruled that the MUA took adverse action against five port workers when it distributed a poster calling them scabs for refusing to take part in a protected strike, finding its contents were worse than defamatory and invited the conclusion that they were "devoid of human dignity".
The Federal Court has found the balance of convenience favours reinstating a warehouse officer to his position at Peabody Energy's North Goonyella coal mine, pending the hearing of his union's claim that the company took adverse action when it dismissed him because of his Type 1 diabetes.
The Federal Circuit Court has found that Baulderstone Pty Ltd and two of its managers took unlawful adverse action when they changed a worker's employment status after he resigned from the CFMEU, holding the company couldn't show otherwise as it didn't call its main decision-maker to give evidence.
Justice Ross finalises annual leave award review scope; Retailers appeal junior rates ruling; Court closes door on adverse action costs claim; and Mammone moves to AMMA.
The Federal Court has dismissed a stevedoring company's challenge to the interim reinstatement of a MUA delegate, despite acknowledging the company's belief that the orders undermined its authority to manage workplace bullying and harassment.
The Federal Circuit Court has held that a bus company did not take unlawful adverse action against TWU members at a NSW yard, but was not convinced that the measures the union complained of weren't linked to the bargaining round in progress at the time.
In dismissing corporate director Kate Shea's general protections case against EnergyAustralia, the Federal Court has ruled that employment complaints must be based on genuinely-held grievances and not made for an ulterior purpose if they are to form the basis of a workplace right.
