A senior FWC member has refused to recuse himself for addressing a worker's representative as "mister" in an unfair dismissal case that argued an employer should have permitted an unvaccinated employee to keep working from home during COVID-19 restrictions instead of sacking her.
A worker who claims FWC President Iain Ross admitted to having a problem with commissioners' "colonial attitude" has lost his Federal Court bid to sue the tribunal for racial discrimination.
The FWC has rejected an employer's bid to stop planned strikes at a $1 billion lithium plant, after finding that its interpretation of notification requirements would effectively shave a day off the protected period.
A FWC full bench has taken a union and employer to task for failing to notify it to resume hearing the former's challenge to a contentious hospitality deal under which employees can work "voluntary" additional hours without penalties.
John Holland's failure to identify the significance of a decision rejecting its earlier greenfields deal when applying to have an almost identical one approved "verged on misleading", a FWC full bench has held, quashing its approval while refusing to quietly do so "by consent".
A Federal Court judge, after identifying conflicting case law on how to assess employers' motives, has concluded that the ATO did not sack an auditor for complaining about "defamatory" claims that he told colleagues during office drinks that he would "f--k" his manager to get a promotion.
The FWC has tossed out an unfair dismissal claim from a government lawyer responsible for overseeing safe workplaces, finding he fully understood the seriousness of "wilfully and persistently" refusing to confirm his COVID-19 vaccination status.
The Federal Court has again rounded on class action cost estimates provided by Adero Law, this time rejecting submissions that it took 180 hours to prepare pleadings in its pursuit of the Drakes supermarket chain and suggesting that it might have breached the Legal Profession Act.
A Federal Court majority has slashed by more than 65% penalties imposed on a government-owned organisation for breaching agreement obligations, finding them "manifestly excessive".
The FWC has expanded on its reasons for rejecting an employer's request to terminate its own lock-out of workers so they could no longer take threatened industrial action, describing the "highly unusual" s424 application as inconsistent with the Fair Work Act's bargaining objectives.
