JobKeeper-like wage subsidies should be part of a government's "toolkit" for future pandemics, but "blanket" early access to superannuation should be taken off the table, according to the independent inquiry into Australia's response to COVID-19.
An AMWU delegate sacked for allegedly outing non-union co-workers has been awarded the maximum available compensation after the FWC expressed surprise that his multinational employer's investigation could have been conducted "so badly".
An employer's failure to give a skipper an opportunity to respond to specific allegations about the circumstances surrounding a charter boat's costly collision with a channel marker did not provide sufficient reason to reverse his dismissal, the FWC has found.
FWC President Adam Hatcher has followed up his recent promise of "genuine engagement" with road transport employers sweating on the TWU's minimum-standards test cases for gig workers and "last-mile" deliveries by asking the Road Transport Advisory Group for more details on consultation timeframes, who it might include in subcommittees and how it "proposes to conduct itself more generally".
Listed services giant Ventia has been ordered to pay $25,000 compensation after failing to persuade the FWC it had reason to sack a senior employee it claimed divulged commercially sensitive information to its former national hospitality and catering manager over a lunchtime catch-up.
The head contractor on Queensland's largest infrastructure project has failed to win FWC orders to compel hundreds of subcontractors to cross CFMEU picket lines, with the tribunal finding their no-shows did not amount to unprotected action.
The ACCC has told the High Court that if a full court's ruling on alleged anti-competitive conduct by the CFMEU is allowed to stand, unions will be able pressure businesses into boycotting goods or service suppliers so long as the threatened corporation does not expressly confirm its collusion.
FWC President Adam Hatcher has refused to stay an order compelling the UFU to hand over a trust deed for an income protection scheme that Fire Rescue Victoria claims might expose it to a $7 million annual fringe benefits tax liability.
A FWC full bench has upheld the reinstatement of a Sydney Trains employee found to have traces of cocaine in his system, despite ruling that a senior member wrongly concluded that employers need to establish workers who fail drug and alcohol tests are at risk of being "impaired" before sacking them.
The Federal Court has suppressed a Channel Seven producer's statement of claim and other documents lodged in connection with her general protections claim, saying that releasing details of alleged workplace behaviours would reduce the chances of achieving a mediated outcome by taking a "bargaining chip" off the table.
