A FWC presidential member has underlined that workers are not immune from retrenchment while on leave or working under flexible arrangements, confirming that operational issues warranting severance can arise at any time.
The ACTU has told a review of the SJBP Act that employers should be compelled to accommodate flexible work requests - such as working from home - unless it causes "unjustifiable hardship", while unions should not have to demonstrate majority employee support for contested single-interest bargaining authorisations.
A recruitment company leader seeking to challenge the restraints in his employment contract and a shareholder agreement has been allowed to continue the case in NSW, after related entities in Great Britain failed to convince the Federal Court to stay the matter because of an exclusive jurisdiction clause.
The FWC has found it "disproportionate" to summarily sack a HR general manager accused of creating an "unsafe" environment for her team and calling for their heads when they gave negative feedback, while also rejecting the employer's inference that she opportunistically used her distress over the outbreak of the Israel-Palestine war to explain her conduct.
A further same-job, same-pay test case is looming, after the nation's largest meat processor told the FWC that the AMIEU must make 10 separate applications for its 10 abattoirs across the country, rather than the single, omnibus bid it has submitted.
The FWC has issued a single interest employer authorisation for two regional Victorian councils, in the first full bench ruling to weigh whether it is barred from approving multi-employer negotiations when a union and an employer party have allegedly agreed in writing to bargain for a proposed single-enterprise agreement.
A leading IR barrister says few employers are equipped to deal with the "huge sleeper issue" posed by the rise of working from home, as it becomes increasingly difficult to order employees to return, but he does not believe more legislation is the answer.
The Albanese Government's legislation to link its funding for the 15% work value pay rise for early childhood educators to limits on childcare operator fee increases, to ensure the funding is reflected in workers' wages, has passed parliament.
A Slater and Gordon HR chief sacked for allegedly misleading its board about underpaid leave entitlements of more than $300,000 is accusing it in a Federal Court adverse action case of retaliating in response to "whistleblower" disclosures.
A presidential member placed too much emphasis on two workers' failure to chase up their unfair dismissal applications, a FWC full bench has ruled, finding the representative's miscalculation of the due date responsible for the whole delay.
