A court has accepted that it should impose a reduced underpayment penalty on an employer and its director because last year's extended coronavirus lockdown in Melbourne significantly reduced the size and financial resources of the business.
Fruit processor SPC has today hit back at union criticism of its plan for mandatory COVID-19 vaccination of employees, citing the general legal obligation of employers to provide a safe workplace.
A Federal Court judge has set a limit on the construction watchdog's use of anti-picketing laws to bring unions to heel, observing that "while picketing involves obstruction, not every obstruction is a picket".
Former Australian Law Council president, barrister Arthur Moses SC, has attempted to offer employers some clarity on whether they can mandate worker vaccinations by highlighting a recent FWC case he describes as "highly instructive" when considering how to approach what he concedes is a difficult question.
A decision by NSW Trains to discipline a manager by shaving almost 10% off his annual pay constituted a dismissal even though he remains in the job and such action is allowed by its agreement and governing regulations, the FWC has held.
The FWC has redrawn an employer's "line in the sand" over the use of mobile phones while driving forklifts, ordering it to reinstate and compensate a worker after concluding he was harshly sacked for a first safety policy breach.
A senior FWC member has decided to forge ahead and determine whether a "deactivated" Uber driver is an employee, rejecting a bid to stay his unfair dismissal claim until the Federal Court tackles the question in a case he is pursuing with the Rideshare Driver Network.
A senior FWC member has in awarding costs against a law firm queried its "irreconcilable" explanations for missing filing deadlines in an unfair dismissal case.
The High Court's Rossato judgment is already having a knock-on effect, with a FWC full bench questioning its effect on Deliveroo's appeal of a finding that a rider was an employee and proposing not to determine it until the High Court decides two more cases.
A Coalition-dominated Senate inquiry has backed the FWC's request to delay implementing proposed extensions to its anti-sexual-harassment jurisdiction, but declined to support Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins' call to include her "positive duty" recommendation in the Morrison Government's Respect at Work legislation.
