In a significant decision affecting those in temporary government roles, the FWC has found a Federal department failed to recognise it was dismissing a "non-ongoing" employee when it informed him that repeated instances of disrespectful behaviour meant he would not be offered further work.
The FWC has given short shrift to union applications for a protected action ballot at Kimberly-Clark Australia, finding a cancelled meeting and a week's delay in securing a new date cannot be construed as being obstructive.
As union calls for the ROC's abolition have intensified in the wake of its raids on AWU offices, the watchdog's leadership maintains that behind the scenes there is increasing collaboration over a shared quest to protect members' interests.
In a significant decision on out-of-hours conduct, the FWC has ruled that ALDI justifiably dismissed a storeperson for throwing a full beer glass over the heads of colleagues at an official company Christmas party.
Unions will next week consider pushing for stronger remedies for unfair dismissal by adopting measures such as removing the $73,000 compensation limit, enabling employees to pursue more than their lost income and empowering them to seek penalties against employers.
A court has imposed a $71,000 costs order on an HR manager who took a "scattergun" approach to challenging her dismissal, but has stopped short of imposing a similar order on her high-profile Sydney barrister, despite criticising his role in the case.
The NT Master Builders Association is citing a "heavy compliance burden" for seeking to cancel its status as a registered organisation and shift to a corporate structure, a move the Registered Organisations Commission says is now "very unusual".
The FWC has slammed the door on a union's persistent efforts to get around coverage issues by installing an "independent" bargaining representative to conduct negotiations on behalf of Linfox tanker drivers, finding it "fanciful" to suggest he was simply acting in a private capacity.
A major private hospital justifiably dismissed a 47-year-old employee for sending an Instagram post "of a s-xual nature" to a young graduate nurse he barely knew, the FWC has found.
