A judge has thrown out a Bing Lee worker's race and sex discrimination case, saying it demonstrates "the perils of litigating hurt feelings", after she embellished events "which stem predominantly from unremarkable, collegiate 'small talk', and petty workplace disagreements to cast them in a more nefarious light".
As Chevron workers prepare to start industrial action this afternoon and the FWC continues week-long talks to resolve the underlying bargaining dispute for its Wheatstone downstream and Gorgon facilities, the tribunal's president will conduct a preliminary hearing next week of the company's bid for an intractable bargaining declaration for its Wheatstone platform.
The FWC will probe potential "wider-scale abuse" of agreement-making under the Fair Work Act after quashing the approval of a Chevron contractor's labour hire deal made with six "employees" in a sham process "entirely lacking in authenticity and moral authority".
The FWC has offered a worker a week to consider his possible reinstatement, finding that his employer unfairly dismissed him for a low-speed wheelie-bin collision.
A FWC member has issued the "strongest recommendation" for AMWU members at an Ampol refinery to cease industrial action and vote up a new deal, after expressing her view that she lacked the power to convene a second post-PABO compulsory conciliation conference.
A signage company that sacked a worker via its director telling him to "get the f-ck out of my life" has failed to convince the FWC of its "extraordinary proposal" to spread his compensation payments over three and a half years.
A major meat processor that told workers a proposed deal would boost their pay while reducing the rates for future recruits has failed to win approval after the FWC found some fresh starters could in fact earn far more while others would experience a "repugnant" reduction, while the umpire also suggested if the new genuine agreement principles applied, it might not comply.
A major employer's disciplinary process leading to a worker's dismissal featured "significant deficiencies" despite the oversight of an IR specialist, the FWC has found.
The Offshore Alliance and the ETU have notified Chevron that it will hit its Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG facilities with rolling stoppages and work bans from next Thursday, with the unions deriding its decision to put an unsupported deal to a vote tomorrow.
