A DEWR review of the procedures available for small claims of up to $100,000 recommends legislative change to enable successful applicants to win costs and an automatic exemption from filing fees in some circumstances, while it also canvasses establishing a small claims jurisdiction within the FWC or creating an industrial court.
The FWO has published a guide to the newly-declared voluntary code for small businesses - said to be a blueprint for employers of all sizes - to protect themselves from criminal liability under Closing Loopholes wage theft provisions from January 1.
The FWO has further tightened the screws on franchisors after the Federal Court agreed that it fell to Bakers Delight to disprove that it is liable for half of a liquidated franchisee's alleged underpayments of more than $1.2 million.
Early case law in the new unfair termination jurisdiction for transport workers will determine the interpretation of the $175,000 income limit for applicants, according to FWC president Adam Hatcher, who confirmed the Commission had been consulted "in advance" of it being set and pointed out potential pitfalls.
The FWC has declined to interfere with the ATO's decision to refuse a worker absent more than 248 days in a year access to unpaid personal leave, observing that its enterprise agreement did not provide an "unfettered" right to such time off.
The AMWU has after more than two years succeeded in gaining FWC approval to expand its eligibility rules so it can get a toehold in BHP's internal labour hire operation.
The FWC has allowed a 79-day-late unfair dismissal application after accepting an aged care worker relied on the advice of an immigration lawyer to initially contest her sacking through two health regulators.
The FWC has ruled that an employee on workers' compensation leave is not eligible for anti-bullying protection because she was absent and not performing work when the alleged bullying occurred.
The AMWU claims in a bid to win coverage of extra classifications at a Queensland mineral field that the AWU has "ignored or failed" to properly service them and left it with the "full burden" of negotiating agreements on their behalf.
The public outcry about multi-employer bargaining during the passage of the Secure Jobs legislation was "massively overstated" in the light of the limited number of cases that have since emerged, but recent reforms might have revived single-enterprise bargaining, according to FWC President Adam Hatcher.
