Workers should not think that independent contractors operate in some "unbridled utopia, free from all direction and control", a senior FWC member has observed in tossing out a psychologist's general protections case.
A deputy president has scathingly rebuked a Woolworths worker upset at a colleague suggesting he cover up his "plumber's crack" for bringing an unmeritorious general protections application, lamenting the lack of "effective disincentive for speculative claims" that are fuelling the FWC's "burgeoning caseload".
A senior early childhood teacher summarily dismissed after being told to be more tolerant of racist and N-zi views has won compensation of more than $41,000.
In a significant decision on the meaning of "full rate of pay" under same-job, same-pay laws and the FWC's powers to arbitrate related disputes, a Commission full bench has found that a big mining company must count service prior to SJSP orders when determining on-hire workers' classifications.
A court has ordered the FWO to pay costs for its "very late" and unexplained abandonment of an underpayments case, while highlighting its failure to "grapple" with the case's underlying problems.
The FWC is seeking feedback on its provisional view that it should order Secure Parking to reinstate a full-time compliance manager to a part-time position, finding Japanese-owned company unfairly dismissed him during a cost-cutting redundancy round.
The FWC has acceded to BHP's request for it to bring almost 140 of its BHP OS on-hire workers in-house, to reduce the workload involved with managing multiple enterprise agreements and address "the potential for disharmony in the workforce".
The SDA has gladly dropped multiple bids for supported bargaining at McDonald's stores and franchise outlets after the FWC granted the fast food giant a nationwide single interest authorisation, clearing the way for voluntary multi-employer bargaining.
The NSW Court of Appeal has overturned orders blocking a law firm from acting for a rival practice's former employed solicitor, in a decision finding that information imparted while training and mentoring a junior lawyer did not justify a restraint on his future employer.
In a case testing the extent to which employers can withhold pay during protected industrial action, the Federal Court today conducted a hearing into the AWU's claim that Chevron unlawfully deducted loading and allowances from workers during stoppages at its WA facilities.
