In a decision upending unions' understanding of what constitutes the base rate of pay under the pilots award and undoing an underpayments claim, the FWC has held that it does not include general wage-related allowances even where they form part of the minimum payment.
In a novel move, unions are seeking to bring forward by 14 weeks the end of the strike-suspending s425 order won by NSW rail employers, arguing that it has failed to achieve its stated purpose of bridging the differences between parties, who they claim have moved further apart during FWC-supervised talks.
Higher education awards covering academic and other staff have been varied to tighten restrictions around the sector's reliance on fixed-term contracts.
Cabin crew employed by Qantas in-house labour hire company Qantas Domestic are in line for base pay rises of up to $20,000 a year, while on-hire workers employed by Maurice Alexander Management and Altara and placed at the airline will win increases of up to 43%, under a settlement of the FAAA's crucial same-job, same-pay claim.
It would have been "sensible" for a worker to take up the "generous support" offered by his employer, rather than filing an "unwarranted" anti-bullying claim, the FWC has ruled, finding a performance management plan, letter of expectations and a warning amounted to reasonable management action.
The UFU's Victorian branch is set to be referred to the AFP after a FWC full bench ran out of patience with the union over its refusal to explain how it came to charge a reputed members' income protection scheme $480,000 in "promotion/management costs".
The FWC has put a global services giant's proposed new catering agreement at a Queensland mine on hold after weighing claims of casuals being parachuted in around voting time against hard evidence that it will cut workers' pay by more than $10,000 a year.
A four-member FWC full bench has knocked back arguments by the host employer at a NSW open cut coal mine and its labour hire providers that it would be unfair and unreasonable, or even unconstitutional, to grant same-job, same-pay orders.
The Australian Industry Group has expressed dismay at the "skewed" drafting of a FWC survey aiming to gather information on how the clerical award currently impedes or enables working from home.
The FWC has extended time due to representative error, after a lawyer with "extensive experience in employment matters" who is also the author of an article on his firm's website about the "hurdles" to "jump over" to make an unfair dismissal claim, including the 21-day time limit, lodged a client's application four days late.
