In a significant decision for Australian companies hiring workers overseas, the FWC has allowed an Argentina-based chief operating officer's adverse action case to proceed after finding the employment contract was formed when an email accepting the job offer was opened in Sydney.
Apple has won approval of a new agreement to replace a 2014 deal targeted for termination by RAFFWU, after a full bench rejected the unregistered union's claims that its part-time provisions create a "flexi-insecure" arrangement akin to casual employment.
FWC hearings are set to be turned up to 11 after one of the tribunal's newest members, described by a union leader as possibly the "loudest" person she's ever worked with, confessed he "wanted to be" Gene Simmons, singer of heavy metal band Kiss.
A FWC member is recommending "a good deal" to settle a Sydney Water bargaining dispute that would boost wages by 11%, provide a one-off $2000 cost of living payment and facilitate a new classification framework to bust through the utility's "glass ceiling".
Former SDA leader Peter O'Keeffe has expressed hope that his experience of being eviscerated by a full bench when forced to argue an absent colleague's porous case will help him perform his new FWC presidential duties with "patience and sympathy".
New FWC member Oanh Tran invoked lyrics from cinematic showstopper This Is Me during her welcome ceremony, while revealing that she only finally "owned" her refugee family's history as outworkers in a home sweatshop when current ACTU president Michele O'Neil interviewed her for a role at the former textile workers union.
A welcome ceremony for the FWC's youngest member has learned about her passion for combat sports and strongman competitions, her pedigree as the daughter of probably the country's first union leader of Asian heritage and her title as "Queen of the PABOs".
The RBA says several new early indicators it has developed in-house are helping it to build a "fuller view" of wage movements ahead of the release of official figures.
An employer has fended off a new employee's adverse action claim after providing evidence of the numerous steps it took to address se-xual harassment and bullying allegations before her abrupt resignation.
An "openly gay" head chef sacked for allegedly molesting female co-workers has won $16,000 compensation, after the FWC found it "more than coincidental" that his employer decided that s-xual harassment provided a valid reason for summary dismissal before it emailed employees a survey full of loaded questions.
