In a case likely to be closely watched by employers considering mandatory coronavirus vaccinations, the FWC will probe whether Ozcare unfairly sacked a long serving care assistant who refused a compulsory flu shot on allergy grounds, while the Commission has also weighed-in on the contentious issue of compulsory jabs for Santas.
The FWC has praised the CSIRO's approach to the dismissal of a scientist accused of threatening students he supervised, describing him as a "peddler of false allegations" who sought to characterise almost every interaction with a superior as bullying.
A five-member FWC full bench has confirmed the provisional view it reached in August last year that there is not a strong enough case, with the COVID-19 pandemic relatively well-controlled in Australia, to insert paid pandemic in awards covering paramedics and NDIS, home care and patient transport workers.
The FWC has in a book-length decision questioned a former Young Australian Of The Year's wisdom in pursuing an unfair dismissal case that shed light on "potential" fraud committed against the homeless people's charity she founded.
The High Court has timetabled the crucial Rossato case, is about to hear a special leave bid by academic Peter Ridd, and is being asked to entertain union challenges to Qantas interpretations of obligations under JobKeeper and the Fair Work Act's stand down provisions.
The Federal Court has approved the $2.05 million settlement of a $65 million class action against marketing agency Appco after finding that further attempts to increase the sum would "likely be a case of throwing good money after bad".
Aldi has again failed to rein-in the TWU over its long-running "safe rates" campaign, with a full Federal Court confirming that the union is not constrained by consumer law prohibitions on misleading or deceptive conduct.
Macquarie Bank's HR department designed a defective pay system that a competent IR lawyer would have quickly identified, the Federal Circuit Court has held in fining the bank $330,000 on top of $1.3 million in compensation owing to wealth advisors.
Before entering into a private settlement with a food delivery worker accusing Uber Eats of unfair dismissal, the company has told a full Federal Court that delivery "partners" are free to negotiate lower fees and abandon meals after collecting them.
The FWC has found employers are not obliged to keep workers on the payroll because of JobKeeper's availability, but has awarded a manager compensation for unfair dismissal that included 24 weeks of the job subsidy, because retaining him would have been "entirely consistent" with the scheme's objectives.
