Australia's regulation of precarious workers is "world-leading" and we arguably have "the most progressive industrial relations legislation on the planet", but academics need to rebuild the IR discipline to address its erosion and the rise of human resource management, according to UNSW's Michael Quinlan.
CFMEU construction division administrator Mark Irving last year "counselled" then Victorian branch secretary Zach Smith for his "serious error of judgement" in permitting an organiser to meet with underworld figure and "fixer" Mick Gatto, after FWC general manager raised concerns.
The FWC has found that a major warehouse operator did not genuinely make a worker redundant, because it failed to discuss redeployment opportunities with her, including 18 jobs it had vacant at the time of her dismissal.
A court has refused to lift a short-term contractor's unpaid suspension while he runs an adverse action case against an employer that declined to make him permanent, finding incompetence might "at best" be to blame for its investigation delays, while any harm to his reputation is "self-inflicted".
A small business and its owner have been hit with fines, compensation and damages totalling more than $300,000 after the "deplorable" exploitation of a young worker with an intellectual disability who went almost two years without being paid.
A craft brewery owned by the Kathmandu founder's charity has failed to persuade the FWC that its future would be jeopardised by the time and potential financial impact involved in bargaining for its first enterprise agreement.
The FWC has slammed the brakes on planned protected industrial action by train drivers negotiating a new deal with Aurizon, finding their notification of an "indefinite" period spent attaching campaign stickers too vague.
In a significant decision on the FWC's arbitral powers, a full bench has provided further "clarification" of its ruling in a dispute after an employer "disobeyed" its finding that seven workers should be reclassified at a higher level.
With many self-represented workers turning to artificial intelligence to prepare material to file in the FWC, a senior member has articulated concerns after navigating an apparently AI-generated claim containing "evolving" reasoning and a non-existent authority.
