The Fair Work Ombudsman is taking a labour hire company to court for unlawfully deducting $500 fines from migrant workers' pay when they breached its drug and alcohol policy.
After Wilmar Sugar rejected a FWC recommendation to offer a 21.33% pay rise over four years, workers at its Queensland mills have narrowly voted up a three-year deal providing a 16% increase, plus a $2500 sign-on sweetener.
A federal court has confirmed that the CFMEU's construction division is not the only industry participant deserving of scrutiny, factoring-in a builder's lack of remorse into penalties imposed for blocking a union official's attempt to check on potentially dangerous electrical boards.
A senior FWC member has highlighted a labour hire "dilemma" raising "obvious policy issues for government", while finding an employer did not dismiss a worker who alleged he had been sacked for taking medical marijuana.
The FWC has found a long-serving BHP Coal worker who had "clearly not adjusted to the modern workplace" s-xually-harassed two colleagues, but a rushed investigative process and lack of a proper opportunity to respond rendered his dismissal unfair.
The FWC has refused an application from a BHP Hunter Valley coal mine to transfer an employee - and future workers with similar circumstances - from the company's WA iron ore operations.
The FWC has finally brought the curtain down on a legal secretary's "spiteful" six-year campaign against her sacking, finding her "incredibly patient" employer had a valid reason to dismiss her after she blocked it from assessing her reasons for a lengthy absence.
In a significant ruling on what constitutes a "genuine" effort to reach agreement while bargaining, a FWC full bench has upheld a member's decision to grant a PABO to a union, despite it having met with the employer only once by the time its application came before the tribunal.
A FWC member has refused to be drawn into a dispute between a private rail freight operator and the RTBU over whether a remote locality allowance should be calculated on travel by road or "as the crow flies", concluding that she could not disentangle conflicting versions about its inclusion in an agreement.
Amazon will require its corporate employees across the globe, including in Australia, to return to the office five days a week from early next year to strengthen the company's culture, unless there are exceptional circumstances.
