CFMMEU mining and energy division members have this week kicked off protected action in BHP's Queensland coal mines, sparking early sparring over the company's proposed ban on allowing workers back into their accommodation camp while on strike.
The FWC has affirmed that blaming late applications on "technical difficulties" without hard evidence is not enough to extend time, even when the margin is just 60 seconds.
A solicitor has been granted permission to re-plead his damages claim against Harmers Workplace Lawyers for allegedly mishandling a discrimination case against his former firm.
A court has refused to grant an interlocutory injunction restraining a lawyer from working in a large regional area while his former firm seeks to enforce a contractual two-year ban, instead accepting an undertaking after observing the legal practice did not have a strong case.
In the first test of Secure Jobs zombie-slayer provisions, a FWC full bench has refused to delay the automatic axing of a scaffolding company's 14-year-old deal after establishing that, contrary to the employer's claims, many of its workers will be better off under the award.
The FWC has found that a company's failure to meet modern IR standards, including its HR manager's attempt to "retrospectively" dismiss a security investigator, provided the necessary exceptional circumstances to accept her late unfair dismissal application.
The FWC has found a worker's false reports about his colleagues created "psychosocial safety" risks and provided a valid reason for Virgin Australia to dismiss him.
In an early test of Secure Jobs changes that outlaw pay secrecy mandates, a former casual sales assistant at a landmark Melbourne bookshop has begun legal action in the Federal Circuit Court, alleging it no longer offered her shifts after she disclosed a pay rise and backpay to her fellow workers.
The FWC has refused to suspend engineers' industrial action at a Virgin Australia subsidiary while their employer pursues an intractable bargaining declaration, in an early test of the new Secure Jobs provision.
