The FWC has ruled that Woodside's agreement does not prevent it sending offshore platform employees to work in Perth when a cyclone hits, but doubts remain about whether such a direction is lawful and reasonable.
Victorian employers would need to give employees two weeks' written notice before introducing workplace surveillance under proposed laws that have won in-principle support from the Allan Government, which also this week vowed to offer clearer advice on the use of medicinal cannabis in the workplace.
The FWC has backed Woolworths' summary sacking of a 63-year-old manager found to have s-xually harassed a 29-year-old colleague when he sent her a red lipstick kiss emoji and texted "I love you".
On-hire workers at a Queensland coal mine who late last year won same-job, same-pay orders did not qualify for any portion of an annual bonus paid to the host's employees, the FWC has held, while separately finding the mine must pay the full incentive to its part-time direct employees, and those on unpaid leave or workers compensation.
The FWC has taken post-employment restraints into account in finding an underperforming sales manager's dismissal unfair, because while they may have been unenforceable they still reduced his prospects of getting a new job.
The FWC has rejected a wellness and body shaping centre's "absurd" suggestion that an employee abandoned her employment by failing to attend a single shift, when it had directed her not to attend work until it arranged a disciplinary meeting.
The Federal Court has temporarily restrained a trustee from winding up a purported income protection fund that a FWC full bench found had paid the UFU a $1.6 million "secret commission".
The FWC has opened the way for a casual newspaper producer to pursue Guardian Australia for unfair dismissal, finding the terms of his contract did not defeat the systematic basis of his engagements and nor did the fact he declined many shifts.
The FWC has backed an ASX-listed early education provider's decision to reject a worker's request for flexible arrangements to enable her to keep picking up her children from school each day, instead of moving to a less-accommodating rotating roster.
FWC president Adam Hatcher has fleshed out procedural reforms for general protections claims involving dismissals, which have surged to 57% above the three-year average in the three months to September, while he has also foreshadowed the next areas he will target.
