The High Court has today accepted that courts can make orders to stop union officials seeking or accepting payments from their unions towards penalties imposed for unlawful conduct.
In a decision sure to be closely analysed by employers, a court has ruled that a worker is entitled to accrued annual leave despite being paid a casual loading for 15 years.
The TWU has been penalised more than $270,000 for failing to remove almost 21,000 unfinancial members from a state branch register over a 12-year period.
The Federal Court will consider whether a series of NTEU social media posts, campaign materials and protests constitute "coercive acts" that are disproportionate to any legitimate interests the union might have had in wanting to stop Murdoch University from terminating its 2014 agreement.
The Federal Court has accepted that "future whistleblowers" might be deterred if it releases all Registered Organisations Commission documents relating to last year's raids on the AWU by the Australian Federal Police.
In a decision further clarifying naming protocols for complaint and litigation respondents, a court has ruled that a law firm's individual partners need not be identified in a discrimination case brought by a former employee.
A union's liability for entry breaches by its officials has been underlined by a court hitting the CFMEU with a $200,000 fine for disrupting a concrete pour on a major rail project over alleged safety concerns.
The FWO's costly pursuit of a cleaning company over inadvertent underpayments of $5200 over a nine-month period has drawn fire from a judge who questioned the "limited need for deterrence" in a case where Fair Work Act objectives could have been met through enforceable undertakings.
A court has thrown out a union bid to shut down a report into discriminatory behaviour in the Victorian fire services, confirming that the state human rights commission's powers extend to investigating statutory corporations.
