The Federal Circuit and Family Court has told a senior manager it lacks the power to declare Bunnings breached whistleblower laws when it allegedly sacked him after he accused it of short-changing staff, but it can award compensation if his claims succeed as part of his adverse action case.
A worker's covert recordings of disciplinary meetings might have been lawful if he had only used them to "aid his recall", rather than submitting the audio and transcripts as evidence in his unfair dismissal case, the FWC has ruled.
The FWC has backed the sacking of a worker who shoved and swore at a woman as they rode an elevator towards his office, rejecting his claims of self-defence and that the employer's code of conduct did not apply because his shift had not started.
The FWC has extended time for a HR manager to challenge his sacking for allegedly tweaking his own contract, finding a union industrial officer's failed use of the federal election as a "mind memo" led to him lodging it two days late.
A full Federal Court has cast doubt over a $40 million underpayments case after ruling that a FWC presidential member and a bench led by president Adam Hatcher failed to properly consider an employer's arguments about the improbability of penalty rates not already being wrapped up in loaded rates paid under two agreements.
A FWC member has refused to recuse herself, after a worker likened her advice to an alleged bully during a conference to helping a s-xual assault perpetrator escape justice.
The FWC's annual wage review expert panel has used today's minimum wage ruling to challenge fears about any misalignment with productivity gains, suggesting that the ABS has "likely" underestimated the "true" improvements in the rapidly-expanding healthcare and social services sectors.
The FWC's annual wage review expert panel has today granted a "sustainable" CPI-beating 3.5% rise in all award rates and the national minimum wage, emphasising that now the inflation genie is back in the bottle, it will no longer "defer" taking action to reverse the pandemic-driven reduction in real wages.
Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth's plan to legislate "as soon as possible" to protect award-enshrined penalty rates has prompted the FWC to seek submissions on whether to shelve a major employer bid to insert a conditions buy-out clause in the retail award for workers on as little as $53,680 a year.
A FWC full bench has expressed disappointment a "demarcation dispute" might derail a Sydney Trains multi-deal despite in-principle agreement, as it gives bargaining parties a 5pm deadline to consider its recommendation to resolve an outstanding ETU claim.
