The Federal Government has told the High Court that the Queensland Government's argument against a union challenge to legislation removing Queensland Rail workers from the federal IR system would thwart the operation of the Constitution's corporations power.
The Fair Work Commission has ruled that it has no jurisdiction to impose conditions on industrial action when it orders a protected action ballot, rejecting Aurizon's bid for it to require the rail union to guarantee it won't interfere with the transport of perishable or hazardous goods.
The Federal Court has refused to compel three employees to hand over documents to their former employer to help it decide whether to sue them for breaching contract and corporations laws, finding the company had failed to make enough inquiries of its own before seeking discovery orders.
In a lucrative Christmas/New Year period for the Commonwealth's coffers, the Federal Circuit Court has handed down penalties amounting to more than $580,000 in eight separate cases brought by the Fair Work Ombudsman against companies and their directors for breaches of the Fair Work Act.
Coles meatworkers in Victoria and Tasmania were entitled to vote to take protected industrial action because they had been genuinely seeking separate enterprise agreements late last year, a FWC full bench has ruled.
The Federal Court has thrown out a challenge by Victorian HSU leaders to the Fair Work Commission's inquiry into allegations that the union rorted the right of entry permit system.
Serco Sodexo Defence Services Pty Ltd has failed to convince the Fair Work Commission it obtained employment for the vast bulk of its workforce when it lost its Defence Department contracts last year, and now faces a hefty redundancy bill for the hundreds of employees who found jobs with the new contractors.
The Federal Court has ordered a lawyer to personally pay another party's legal costs in a general protections claim, finding that he unreasonably advised his client to add his employer's solicitor to the application.
