Bench says employer's "bland" description no help to BOOT assessment; FWC takes chainsaw to gardener's sacking; and Tribunal rejects bid to require witness to appear in person.
Uber has repelled another attempt to establish that it is an employer, despite the FWC finding that a driver's relationship with the ride-sharing business was of "some magnitude".
In a significant addition to the jurisprudence around "arrangements" between transferring businesses, the FWC has rejected union arguments that the urgent use of an old employer's pathology equipment after a midnight handover should lead to continuing employees being retained on their existing, more generous enterprise agreement.
In upholding the dismissal on medical grounds of a prison officer who was later declared fit, the FWC has noted his union gained permission to obtain a second opinion but also assisted him in making an ill-fated decision not to pursue it until after his termination.
An FWC full bench has reserved its decision in a case that looms as a significant test of what constitutes a new activity for the purposes of making a greenfields agreement.
One of the CFMMEU's most pugnacious leaders has been described before the FWC as performing a "fairly administrative sort of role" as the union fends off ABCC arguments his entry permit shouldn't be renewed on the basis that he oversees a culture of lawlessness.
An FSU election that opens later this month looks likely to be heavily contested, with the AEC verifying the nominations of would-be challengers in the first ballot since national secretary Julia Angrisano replaced Fiona Jordan in the wake of a bitter brawl with the executive.
Two Esso Australia union delegates have failed to convince the FWC that their summary dismissals for isolating and abusing workers who accepted lower-paying contracts were unfair or in breach of the company's disciplinary policy.
In a development that might fuel debate over the links between union power and wage rises, substantially above-average pay increases secured in the heavily-unionised construction sector have pushed bargained private sector wage rises off their recent historic low.
Provisional award clause grants more flexibility to casuals; Wages growth stuck in slow lane, says RBA; HR manager not unfairly sacked for complaints to CEO: Court; Inequality on rise as technology advances, says IMF.
