A new UK bill introduced by the Starmer Labour Government seeks to reduce the qualifying period for protection from unfair dismissal from two years to an employee's first day of work, although employers will potentially have an initial nine months in which to sack those "not right for the job".
As the Minns Labor Government prepares to introduce further IR amendments in NSW, the lawyer involved in one of the first adverse action cases brought under the Fair Work Act has told a conference the one thing he would not recommend is adopting the federal legislation's general protections provisions.
The Minerals Council is warning the Albanese Government against introducing vicarious liability provisions in new Fair Work Act discrimination protections, while also urging it not to replace the Barclay burden of proof test for adverse action cases, saying it risks giving a "green light" to misconduct for those claiming to be engaging in industrial activity.
Labor Senator Tony Sheldon has hinted the Albanese Government will move quickly to introduce "urgent" legislative changes if the High Court overturns a Federal Court finding that Qantas took unlawful adverse action against nearly 2000 former ground crew when it rejected an in-house tender and outsourced their jobs.
A judge has been forced to pick apart a full court's remittal order before determining that he must rehear a worker's adverse action case afresh rather than merely considering "updated" evidence.
The Secure Jobs, Better Pay Act has received Royal Assent, stamping out pay secrecy clauses in new employment contracts, paring back MSD requirements and making it harder for employers to terminate agreements during bargaining, while the ABCC has entered a transition period ahead of its abolition.
In a significant decision unsettling the FWC's approach to general protections applications, a full Federal Court has ruled that a Commission bench "misconstrued" limitations on the tribunal's powers to first establish whether workers have been dismissed before considering such matters.
The FWC has found an Aboriginal corporation took unlawful adverse action by sacking three cultural heritage field officers for failing to prove ancestral connections, noting it was a by-product of the misery inflicted on victims of the stolen generation.
A court has thrown out a labour hire worker's adverse action claim despite rejecting the respondent's argument that it lacked jurisdiction because the truck driver mistakenly identified her employer.
A court has fined the CFMEU and two organisers almost $100,000, after finding the union engaged in unlawful coercion and adverse action when it organised a blockade at the $1.6 billion Port of Melbourne expansion project because an employer refused to bargain.
