The Federal Budget has allocated $8 million in funding over four years to create an Anti-Slavery Commissioner to improve transparency in supply chains and almost $60 million to improve the culture of federal parliamentary workplaces.
The FWC has upheld the sacking of a worker for telling a colleague during an argument that "I'll f-ck you in the a-se", finding that the choice of words went "far beyond" simply swearing in the workplace and constituted s-xual harassment.
In a case expanding the circumstances under which the FWC will not publish a finding, the tribunal has rejected union arguments that it should release its decision so as to potentially "clear the name" of a former BHP worker who committed suicide after hearings into his unfair dismissal claim were completed.
A court has upped from $20,000 to $90,000 the general damages payout for a veteran chief accountant subjected to age discrimination and is considering billing his former employer a further $142,000 for economic loss, after hearing he is "no longer the same man" and is unable to work.
The SDA is gearing up to take further action against McDonald's fast food outlets after a settlement in which a franchisee coughed up $275,000 and confessed to waging a union-busting campaign and pressuring part-timers to become casuals, despite denying it in court documents.
A former chef at a major catering company has appeared before FWC President Adam Hatcher seeking an equal remuneration order, in a case that could test workers' ability to seek retrospective redress from a pay equity expert panel once they have left an employer.
Victoria's appeal court has upheld a ruling that an employer treated a manager unfavourably because of her s-x, when it ignored her repeated attempts to negotiate over-agreement pay rates, despite affording higher rates to male colleagues.
The FWC has ordered the reinstatement of a firefighter who shared an image of naked women in a "sickos" Facebook group of current and former colleagues but upheld the sacking of another who posted p-rnography during his shift, in decisions slamming "tick-and-flick" training.
Three-quarters of working women are suffering from painful periods, according to a continuing survey conducted by Maurice Blackburn that it is seeking to open up to a broader audience, as it prepares to use the data to lobby for reproductive leave and flexible work arrangements.
