In a significant ruling on dismissals deemed harsh by the FWC, a full bench has endorsed the "unorthodox" approach taken by a member who ordered the reinstatement of a forklift driver who breached an employer's "no mobile phones" policy.
The Federal Court has today thrown out an urgent interlocutory bid to stop Qantas Group dismissing more than 20 employees who failed to meet its mid-November vaccination deadline.
The FWC has "reluctantly" held that Airservices Australia's agreement does not prevent it from investigating the alleged out-of-hours touching of a worker's breast in a rideshare, despite dealing with it "to finality" four years ago.
A Westpac manager accused of directing s-xual comments and inappropriate GIFs to female colleagues in online team meetings claims in an adverse action case that his sacking was in fact motivated by his own complaints of age discrimination, bullying and overwork.
The FWC has declined to extend time for an unvaccinated worker who claimed he lodged his claim late because of the theft of 45 one-kilogram silver bars from his home, while it has upheld a nursing home's sacking of a maintenance manager who failed to comply with a State Government inoculation mandate.
A paramedic who claims an Ambulance Victoria IR strategist refused to permit her to take long service leave while she waits for the non-MRNA Novavax has failed to obtain interim orders stopping it from dismissing her while she participates in a group challenge to its vaccine mandate.
BHP says it is working with the FWC and the CFMMEU's mining and energy division on further workplace consultation to enable the introduction of a COVID-19 vaccination mandate at its Mt Arthur coal mine in the Upper Hunter Valley.
The key lesson from last week's Mt Arthur ruling by a five-member FWC full bench is that employers that impose vaccination mandates not required by public health orders must comply with consultation obligations, according to the coal mining union's legal director.
In a decision that threatens to undermine employer attempts to impose COVID-19 vaccination mandates, a five-member FWC bench has ruled BHP failed to adequately consult with workers at its Mt Arthur mine before announcing deadlines on site access.
