Labour hire company Spinifex Recruiting has again come under fire for its reliance on a "misnamed" temporary employment agreement, with an FWC full bench rejecting its argument that it did not dismiss a casual worker because its client merely exercised its discretion to terminate her assignment.
Unions are continuing to embrace affirmative action measures to increase women's participation and ensure leadership reflects membership, the FWC this week approving ASU rule changes requiring a woman to hold at least one of three new leadership positions.
In a first glimpse of common fund orders that law firm Adero plans to seek in a suite of IR class actions, the Federal Court has given hundreds of current and former Airservices Australia managers until mid-December to opt out of an underpayments case or be bound by its payment terms.
The FWC has further clarified the circumstances in which the signatures of a majority of workers can compel an employer to bargain with a union, finding that inviting employees to add their names to a petition occasionally left in an unlocked car did not reduce its force.
The Jobs Department has told a Senate Estimates hearing that it met with labour hire company Workpac following the full Federal Court's crucial casual leave decision in Skene, but that it hasn't drafted a Bill to address the ruling.
An industrial tribunal has rejected a union's argument that allowing a large employer to use an external lawyer will render a general protections case "unnecessarily adversarial".
In an important interlocutory ruling, the Federal Court has today restrained mining giant BHP Coal from stopping a reinstated labour hire mineworker returning to the job at its Bowen Basin coal mine.
A Federal Court judge has questioned the "wisdom or fairness" of laws requiring employers to subtract four hours' pay for as little as 10 minutes unprotected action, after finding the AWU breached the Fair Work Act when an official asked a BlueScope manager not to dock returning strikers for starting a shift late.
A senior FWC member has upbraided a seasoned IR lawyer for speaking to employees of his large casino client during an unfair dismissal hearing, after it had been denied external legal representation.
A tribunal member has strongly rebuked a legal firm for its "unprofessional" behaviour in missing a deadline to file material, lamenting that unlike golf tee times, FWC directions cannot be changed "at a whim".
