In a significant finding on the integrity of the workplace umpire, a judge has ruled that a former union organiser and Labor MP rightly decided against recusing herself from hearing a same-job, same-pay application despite having described similar labour hire arrangements as a "rort" in Parliament.
Days after the High Court refused permission to appeal a key decision recognising standby duty as paid work, a FWC full bench has weighed its implications for a Qantas subsidiary's long-awaited intractable bargaining workplace determination.
The FWC has found that a s-x worker is an employee rather than an independent contractor, because of the significant degree of control the employer exerted over her work, including requiring her to maintain an "immaculate" appearance with styled hair, make-up, lingerie and heels.
A self-represented Uber driver has fired back at attempts by the rideshare company to have the FWC throw out the first substantive test of its new unfair contracts powers, arguing that his application is based not on "desired terms or speculative grievances" but on "realworld" experience.
A US video game company that told a senior FWC member "I wish the United States was as diligent as you guys" about unfair dismissals has been ordered to reinstate an Australian-based tester, after the tribunal applied the new "practical reality" test for employment relationships.
The FWC has banned a paid agent from continuing to represent his client after finding him to blame for the worker's late dismissal challenge and that he sought to rely on a decision which "clearly does not exist" when arguing the application had been filed within time.
The MEU says Rio Tinto's workforce is stunned by the resource titan's decision to cut its three-month personal leave entitlement to 12 days for its West Australian iron-ore workers, which WA branch secretary Greg Busson says provides a "timely example" of why the company's workers need an agreement.
Uber is arguing in a newly-lodged submission that the first substantive unfair contracts case to test new FWC powers should be thrown out, because the driver is attempting to use a potential loophole identified in a recent speech by the senior member hearing the case.
The High Court has unanimously rejected mining giant Peabody's challenge to a finding that it failed to satisfy workplace laws governing redundancies when not properly considering alternative roles for 22 workers dismissed in 2020, ruling that the FWC was within its rights to delve into options like replacing already-engaged contractors.
The FWC has upheld the sacking of a long-serving Woolworths warehouse worker who took almost 100 days off in the last year alone, finding the supermarket giant's leniency over many years did not preclude it from switching to a stricter approach.
