The Secure Jobs panel has lamented the effects of adversarialism on its review process and IR more generally, while it has backed the axing of the ABCC and ROC and called for the federal government to make earlier commitments to fund equal pay cases.
Air-conditioning industry employers have continued to queue to be included in a pioneering private sector single-interest agreement cast by the AMWU as a response to "dodgy", low-paid contract work.
In a warning to employers about ambiguous drug and alcohol policies, the FWC has in a 50-page decision highlighted the "inadequacy" of a multinational company's code as being among the reasons for reinstating a wharfie sacked for cocaine use.
In a decision closely considering when homelessness can provide the "exceptional circumstances" necessary to warrant extending time, the FWC has agreed to hear a one-day late claim after hearing the applicant spent a fortnight after his dismissal sleeping in his car.
The Albanese Government should reconsider its approach to limiting fixed-term contracts, give the FWC discretion to forgo compulsory s448A post-PABO conferences, and expand protection against discrimination to cover menopause, according to a draft report of an independent review that has found the Secure Jobs reforms are operating effectively.
In a decision that highlights the primacy of open justice in the workplace tribunal, the FWC has rejected a bid to permanently suppress a proposed union's "rambling" and "intemperate" written submission that makes scandalous allegations against the ANMF and its leaders.
The FWC has rejected an employer's bid to avoid paying redundancy entitlements to a nurse who refused to transfer to a higher-paying, non-nursing "technician" role.
A Senate inquiry is calling for guidance on what will qualify as a "reasonable excuse" for failing to comply with a Bill requiring employers with 500 or more workers to set new publicly-tracked gender equality targets that could determine eligibility for government contracts, while the Greens want to lower the threshold to 100 or more employees.
A DEWR review of the procedures available for small claims of up to $100,000 recommends legislative change to enable successful applicants to win costs and an automatic exemption from filing fees in some circumstances, while it also canvasses establishing a small claims jurisdiction within the FWC or creating an industrial court.
In a decision weighing how close to "perfection" an employee's standards need to be, the FWC has upheld the sacking of an experienced scientist accused of "manipulating" data for a single BHP soil sample among thousands he helped test.
