In a decision with broad implications for the disability services sector, a care provider has failed to overturn a ruling that a worker who signed two contracts describing her as an independent contractor is in fact an employee capable of suing it for alleged unlawful dismissal.
The FWC has welcomed a new member "honoured" to have worked at a law firm founded in the 1940s by a Communist she considers herself lucky enough to have interviewed in his final years.
A senior FWC member has rounded on a national business's HR team for the "crude" and disrespectful process it followed to make one of its own members redundant, suggesting it engage in some "sober reflection".
The FWC has urged David Jones to improve its retrenchment processes, while opening the way for a long-serving worker to pursue an unfair dismissal case after the department store deemed her unsuitable for redeployment to an area serving "elevated" clientele.
The ACTU says the "right to disconnect" clause to be inserted into awards should provide "descriptive guidance" on how the entitlement would operate and the FWC should reject employers' proposed "minimalist" approach, ahead of consultations next week and the Commission releasing a draft provision next month.
The FWC has refused to reduce two FIFO workers' redundancy pay, finding that redeployment offers did not amount to "other acceptable employment" because they were given insufficient time to consider roster changes that would also have reduced their time at home.
The FWC has found a paramedic is not entitled to a living-away-from-home allowance as he chose rather than was directed to undertake additional training his employer provided 200 kilometres from his residence.
The FWC's registered organisations branch has certified rule changes for a prison officers' union stemming from an enforceable undertaking made after the CPSU-SPSF disclosed alleged misconduct in branch elections.
Paid agent Supportah's failure to return scheduled calls and lodge a worker's unfair dismissal application, along with a family member's death, warranted a three-day extension, the FWC has found.
