The FWC faces major changes after the May 21 Federal election, with the winner entrusted with appointing a successor to President Iain Ross and Labor pledging to "rebalance" the tribunal after a succession of appointments from an employer background.
In a significant decision regarding the statutory meaning of "dismissed", a five-member FWC bench majority has ruled that an employer did not sack a worker when it shaved almost 10% off his annual pay for disciplinary reasons.
A support worker came close to committing an offence when she implied that an FWC presidential member behaved in an unusual manner and interfered to reduce her settlement during a conciliation conference.
The AWU has admitted to more than 24,000 historic contraventions of registered organisations' obligations to report their membership numbers, a Senate Estimates committee has heard.
An IR manager who recently gave evidence in his company's FWC bid for a s418 anti-industrial-action order will now be sitting on the Commission's bench, after Attorney-General and IR Minister Michaelia Cash made a last-minute appointment ahead of the election anticipated next month.
Ahead of Friday's final full bench hearing into the ACTU's case for introducing paid family domestic violence leave into modern awards, the ACCI says it should have "little confidence" in the cost-benefit analyses provided by the union peak body's expert witnesses.
In a decision closely examining the FWC's powers to make scope orders, a full bench majority has found that an employer's failure to spell out classifications for a proposed agreement rendered the process "defective".
A FWC member has applied the "well known 'duck principle'" in holding that a tyre recycling company suspected of phoenixing unfairly sacked a worker who complained about unpaid superannuation, before threatening to kill a director.
