In a decision pointing to the circumstances under which zombie deals can survive beyond December's drop-dead date, a four-member FWC bench has extended a 2004 agreement by almost 18 months after accepting it provides "significantly" better pay than the award and that negotiations have already begun for a replacement deal.
The FWC decided this week to terminate rather than suspend industrial action at the Australian Rail Track Authority, because the parties' "entrenched" positions made it "unlikely any significant progress would be made" if it ordered a pause, according to newly-released reasons.
The FWC has found no justification for interfering with a union's "statutory right" to three working days notice of industrial action against an "essential service" energy provider, after taking into account a five-point "safety commitment" the ETU put forward in response to the employer's concerns about supply continuity.
A court has limited to about $100,000 the fines it has imposed on an underpaying, now-shuttered labour hire company after accepting that it unintentionally broke the law and that its embarrassed founder is "appropriately remorseful".
The FWC has granted permission for the Department of Home Affairs to lawyer-up in an unfair dismissal case lodged by a self-represented former employee who once worked as a magistrate in Serbia.
A mechanic who overturned the rejection of his "late" unfair dismissal application has failed to convince a commissioner to recuse himself based on Australian Law Reform Commission unconscious bias research.
A UK tribunal has found that a job interviewer asked seven questions that could be "reasonable and entirely innocuous" individually, but cumulatively could constitute racial discrimination.
The FWC has affirmed that blaming late applications on "technical difficulties" without hard evidence is not enough to extend time, even when the margin is just 60 seconds.
A solicitor has been granted permission to re-plead his damages claim against Harmers Workplace Lawyers for allegedly mishandling a discrimination case against his former firm.
A court has refused to grant an interlocutory injunction restraining a lawyer from working in a large regional area while his former firm seeks to enforce a contractual two-year ban, instead accepting an undertaking after observing the legal practice did not have a strong case.
