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.
Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt has weighed into a crucial full bench same-job, same-pay test case targeting BHP's in-house labour suppliers, ahead of a hearing that starts Monday, contradicting claims the carve-out for service contractors captures any work that is "more than the mere supply of labour".
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 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".
The FWC has refused an employer's application to stop allegedly unprotected action, finding that two off-duty employees' distribution of campaign materials did not amount to industrial action because it did not alter their performance of work, or disrupt other workers.
In a significant decision on the statutory hurdles facing unregistered enterprise unions applying for federal registration, a FWC full bench has confirmed that assessing an association's membership is confined to "actual flesh and blood members" rather than any prospective members allowed under its rules.
A FWC full bench has approved a landmark multi-employer supported bargaining agreement covering more than 60 employers in the early childhood education and care sector, putting more than 12,000 employees in line for a 15% pay rise over two years.
A FWC expert panel has decided to phase in work value pay rises for aged care nurses over three tranches from March next year to August 2026, rejecting a Federal Government call to spread it over four instalments between next July and October 2027, while its decision on classification structures has disappointed the ANMF.
The FWC has ordered the UWU to stop "unlawful picketing" that is blocking access to four distribution centres that supply Woolworths, finding it has undermined the union's good faith bargaining obligations.
An engineer who lost a close relative in the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict was clearly offended when a manager directed him to move his desk into a project "war room", but his refusal still provided a valid reason for his dismissal, the FWC has found.
