The Federal Circuit Court has taken a broad view of what amounts to an employment-related complaint in ordering an employer to pay more than $150,000 in compensation and penalties for its adverse action when it sacked a senior employee who upbraided his chief executive for failing to pay outstanding invoices to a key subcontractor that had downed tools in protest.
The FWC has upheld the sacking of a personal assistant who became entangled in a company power play, finding that her employer's belief that she lied to cover a director's tardiness satisfied the requirements of the small business code.
In its pursuit of a former economics professor for allegedly paying his employees as little as $10 an hour, the FWO is also seeking an injunction to restrain him from future breaches.
In a rare case turning on an employee's loss of trust in his employer rather than the other way around, the FWC has stepped back from ordering the reinstatement of a worker found to have been unfairly dismissed, despite describing it as the most "compelling" remedy.
The FWC has ordered a franchisee to compensate an unfairly dismissed employee who contacted head office to report her boss for drunkenness and drink driving in accordance with company whistleblowing provisions.
As Unions NSW calls for an "ironclad" deportation amnesty for foreign workers involved in wage theft investigations, an IR academic says a complete firewall between the FWO and the Department of Home Affairs would help move the law enforcement focus from migrants to their employers.
A company providing first aid services at major events has been fined $250,000 for underpaying casuals after a medical certificate attesting its sole director was "unfit for work/school" over a five-day period that included the court hearing failed to secure an adjournment.
The MUA has failed in an attempt to extend its coverage to certain truck drivers working at the Patrick Stevedores terminal at Port Botany, after opposition from both the TWU and the employer, the Qube logistics group.
Glencore's Oaky North coal mine workers have voted to accept the same in-principle agreement that they rejected in January, with the CFMMEU crediting its successful FWC bid to pause a bitter seven-month lockout with creating the right environment to break the deadlock.
