FWC bench to hear bid to overturn Coles deal approval; Heydon not planning to recall Shorten, but Howes set to appear; Ballot gets the go-ahead despite employer objections; Queensland FIFO report recommends workforce, accommodation laws; High Court confirms role of hindsight in determining injury claims; and Employers, unions decry threats to freedom of association.
An accountant, who agreed to sell his practice and its services over a four-year period will continue to be restricted from practising, after an appeal court rejected his argument that restraints of trade no longer applied.
The standard absorption clause will no longer form a part of modern awards, with a five-member full bench ruling that it has served its purpose as a transitional tool.
The FWC has blocked an attempt by maintenance workers servicing mining giant Anglo Coal's Queensland operations to nominate multiple bargaining agents.
The FWC has ordered an employer defending an unfair dismissal claim to produce a consultant's bullying report sought by an employee it sacked after he drew a stylised p-nis on a workplace incident report, while it has refused to effectively "mandate" that the employer be represented by its employer association's lawyer.
Early childhood service providers might face higher wages bills after the Fair Work Commission ruled that their administrative workers can be covered by the modern award for private sector clerks.
Faced with the threat of the closure of Bluescope Steel's Port Kembla steelmaking operation unless significant operational savings can be made, the Fair Work Commission has allowed the company to require maintenance staff to operate machines without any change in pay rates.
A worker with a "dismissive" attitude to OHS who breached his employer's zero alcohol tolerance policy has been compensated because a previous warning was too severe.
A confectionery company discriminated against an employee when it failed to consider, or give him an opportunity to propose, adjustments that might have enabled him to continue working, a tribunal has found.
A welder's claims that he was "fine" after bingeing on 20 cans of full-strength beer over 12 hours on Australia Day before facing a random breath test at work has failed to impress FWC member Danny Cloghan, who says it "would be greeted with that very Australian saying relating to animal manure".
