A lawyer's "significant omission" in failing to specify the deadline for a self-represented worker to lodge his unfair dismissal claim, despite sending the worker a costs agreement on that date, contributed to the delay and warranted a one-day extension, the FWC has found.
Qantas has agreed to top-up the pay of freight workers at subsidiary Australian Air Express by almost $7000 a year to achieve parity with their directly-engaged colleagues after the ASU raised the prospect of lodging a same-job same-pay claim.
The FWC has ruled that an intoxicated FIFO female mineworker rubbing up against and trying to hold hands with her male colleagues when commuting to her worksite amounted to harassment and s-xual harassment and warranted BHP dismissing her.
Some 30,000 Westpac employees have won a new entitlement under the bank's proposed new three-year enterprise agreement to five paid days of "family pathways leave" to support them through processes such as IVF and adoption, while those earning less than $102,000 will receive a 5% upfront increase in its first year.
A FWC presidential member has suggested policymakers give greater consideration to recognising the "industrial qualifications" of migrant workers after ruling an employer unfairly dismissed a factory hand when it made him redundant without consultation due to his unsuccessful attempts to obtain an Australian forklift licence.
A judge has compiled a checklist for workers pursuing employers over unreasonable hours, highlighting the difficulties a product marketing manager faces in building her adverse action case without detailed evidence of workloads, deadlines and demands to complete tasks.
The use of rolling fixed-term contracts in the tertiary education sector is set to come under close scrutiny by a FWC full bench, while the tribunal has also moved ahead with its review of two arts sector awards in the wake of its inconclusive "targeted" examination of modern awards.
The FWC has cleared the way for a Philippines-based paralegal to pursue her unfair dismissal claim, finding her an employee of a Queensland law firm that paid her $12 an hour below award.
The TWU has filed the last of its promised applications aimed at overhauling standards in the road transport industry, asking the FWC to make a contractual chain order imposing 30-day payment deadlines and compulsory rate reviews, while prohibiting unfair "set-off" terms.
The Victorian Government should opt for best practice guidelines over law reform, the Australian Industry Group has told a parliamentary workplace surveillance inquiry, while the Centre for Future Work says there is an urgent need for dedicated workplace surveillance laws to address the "serious and unacceptable risks" associated with increased monitoring.
