The FWC has set aside 17 days from October 20 and November 25 for a full bench to hear a major SDA challenge to junior rates in the retail, fast food and pharmacy awards, while Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth has responded to a call to weigh in.
A Canberra contractor that blocked CFMEU officials from investigating safety issues has been hit with higher penalties after conceding that a judge mistakenly bundled obstruction and misrepresentation breaches together when determining fines.
The FWC has warned MEU general vice president Stephen Smyth it will not be so accommodating next time he wants to renew his entry permit should he ever repeat behaviour that attracted more than $80,000 in fines for using slurs such as "f--king scab", "maggot" and "dirty rat" during a coal mine strike.
A training college must pay more than $8000 to an accounts manager reputedly made redundant in anticipation of laws restricting international student numbers that never passed.
The Federal public sector gender pay gap has more than halved in a year, falling from 13.5% to 6.4%, but employers could still improve on men's uptake of paid parental leave, according to a new WGEA report that includes individual agencies' remuneration disparities for the first time.
A government agency has been scolded for failing to pay travel allowances after admitting that it slipped its notice that the claims had been processed manually by two firefighters, one of whom retired while the other went on extended leave.
In a significant decision the ETU describes as "deeply troubling", the Federal Court has found full-time agreement-covered FIFO electricians working on a Fortescue mine project do not accrue paid leave during their monthly "rest and recreation" off-swing.
In a shot in the arm for a paramedic transferred 350km away after an investigator found he bullied a female colleague, a full bench has ruled that bullying falls within a "spectrum of seriousness" and ordered the redetermination of whether he engaged in serious misconduct.
A senior FWC member has praised a "removed" former CFMEU construction division leader for answering national secretary Zach Smith's call to come out of retirement to take up a training role, granting him a certificate allowing him to return to work.
A full Federal Court majority has found that Orica is not obliged to make contributions to the black coal mining sector's portable long service leave scheme for its shotfirers, while Justice Adam Hatcher has demurred.
