Stevedoring giant Qube has failed to head off a multi-million lawsuit after the FWC found it had no standing to seek retrospective agreement variations affecting dockworkers' pay.
As the FWC seeks feedback on draft principles it will have to factor in when deciding whether deals are genuinely agreed, an early ACTU submission lists multiple ways employers should facilitate union involvement, along with a "rebuttable presumption" it is authentic where registered unions support approval.
The FWC has ordered the reinstatement of a construction worker sacked on the basis of a clutch of "confected" claims that included alleged commuting challenges after losing his driver's licence and his purported concealment of firearms and pornography charges.
"Similarities" with the case of a worker awarded compensation after being shown the door for missing a COVID-19 vaccination deadline have not been enough to persuade the FWC that a public utility unfairly dismissed an employee when it denied him a chance to wait for a Novavax jab.
The FWC has rejected the FWO's forceful arguments against renewing a union organiser's entry permit after weighing his history of transgressions, doubts over whether he paid a court-ordered personal fine and evidence that training had better equipped him to avoid potential future breaches.
The FWC has warned a radiology provider whose HR manager took an "ill-informed" position that it risks a civil penalty and underpayment claims if it requires part-timers to put in extra hours without overtime pay or agreement and fails to put working patterns in writing.
A judge irked by a multinational company's attempt to cast its underpaying subsidiary's award breaches as the court's "alternate interpretation" has imposed a near-maximum fine.
The TWU will oppose an application by Woolworths to overhaul the coverage of workers at the supermarket's online fulfilment centres, in a move that puts it at odds with fellow supply chain alliance member the SDA.
The FWC has ordered a Serco supervisor and corrections officers to front a hearing of an unfair dismissal claim of a prison canine handler who accuses the company of sacking him to cover up the allegedly cruel treatment of a dog that had to have its tail amputated.
