A senior FWC member has sidelined himself from two unfair dismissal claims against Coopers Brewery after disclosing that he accepted donated beer for a 2014 fundraiser.
In a case that illustrates sexual harassment problems at remote mine sites, the Commission has upheld BHP Billiton's sacking of a service technician after he groped and pursued two young female cleaners, prompting one to leave the "too unsafe to return" worksite.
Victoria's Supreme Court has ruled that an employer might have treated a manager unfavourably because of her age and sex when it ignored her repeated requests to provide her similar over-agreement pay rates to those afforded to male colleagues, while it has also found that the State's equal opportunity laws enable consideration of "unconscious bias".
Australia's largest bus operator has been fined $181,000 after a judge considered an internal email to its chief executive warning of the "very real possibility of being accused of 'wage theft'" if it did not pay more than 750 drivers an overdue wage increase.
The High Court has today unanimously found that a lawyer diagnosed with PTSD and depression after working in the Victorian public prosecutor's unit that handles s-xual offences, including those involving children, would have cooperated with steps by her employer to shift her to another area of its operations.
The High Court has today unanimously ruled that judges can take into account the CFMMEU's history of contraventions when assessing fines for breaches of industrial laws, clearing the way for the ABCC to seek maximum penalties for relatively minor infractions.
Spotless has been fined $17,500 after falsely telling an accountant who had worked at the company for more than 30 years that he would not be receiving a redundancy payment because of a change to the law.
A full Federal Court has halved fines imposed on the CFMMEU and one of its officials after finding that the evidence in the ABCC's "factually confused" case failed to establish that an official pushed over a project manager during an entry dispute.
Hospitality workers on at least 25% above-award annualised salaries will earn overtime for such work beyond 12 hours a week or penalty rates for working more than 18 penalty rate hours, but the FWC concedes the minimum is "nowhere near enough" to compensate many.
In a significant decision regarding the statutory meaning of "dismissed", a five-member FWC bench majority has ruled that an employer did not sack a worker when it shaved almost 10% off his annual pay for disciplinary reasons.
