In a significant judgment on the statutory nature of a "proposed enterprise agreement", a Federal Court has rejected arguments that rail unions lost protection of their industrial action once the bargaining focus changed from a single to a multi-employer deal.
Virgin Australia has failed to reverse the reinstatement of a flight attendant sacked for drinking a glass of prosecco within eight hours of a shift, and further accused of breaching its fatigue management policy by having s-x after requesting a shift change due to tiredness.
A worker's continued refusal to take responsibility for a workplace car accident and his "highly inappropriate" emails criticising the investigation of the collision warranted his dismissal, the FWC has ruled.
A FWC presidential member has lambasted a union's legal team for leaving an illiterate member "high and dry" when deciding not to pursue a "more than arguable" dismissal challenge that ultimately led to reinstatement with full backpay.
Workers have no right to disconnect from FWC proceedings and the Commission can order them to attend or give evidence outside of work hours, a presidential member has confirmed.
Two senior corporate lawyers will resume their pursuit of millions in compensation from Super Retail Group after the Federal Court rejected their claims that an enforceable settlement had already been agreed, while a full court will soon separately hear the employer's appeal aimed at suppressing details of its settlement offer.
The FWC's edginess over small-cohort deals has come to the fore again after a member exercised his discretion to allow unions to insert themselves in the approval process for an agreement voted up by three workers, despite having no standing as bargaining representatives.
A lawyer who failed to follow "the most basic of instructions" during FWC proceedings and proved to be "exceptionally difficult to deal with", experienced reasonable management action rather than bullying when DEWR raised issues about his tardiness, falling asleep in meetings and delays in producing work.
A FWC full bench has advised a worker of her right to enforce in court a seven-months-late $32,000 unfair dismissal compensation order, after it ruled that a commissioner correctly understood that the company misinterpreted her "this is shit" curse in her "thick" Scottish accent as "I quit".
Unprotected industrial action undermines collective negotiations because it is "directly contrary" to the Fair Work Act's bargaining regime, Deputy President Gerard Boyce has held in his reasons for finding the UWU's "unlawful" picketing of Woolworths distribution centres breached its good faith bargaining obligations.
