Two employer groups have flagged that they will argue that the CFMEU's merger with two other unions cannot proceed because the former's construction division has a large amount of outstanding legal action against it.
After a national employer body suggested its industry's "blokey" culture means workers are unlikely to admit they are domestic violence victims, "let alone [seek] FDV leave under an award", the FWC yesterday set a September 1 deadline for submissions on whether modern awards should provide unpaid leave, ahead of hearings in October.
A prison gardener ordained as a Pentecostal minister who was disciplined for quoting bible passages about the sinfulness of homosexuality to inmates has failed to overturn a UK Employment Tribunal finding that his employer's actions did not constitute religious discrimination.
A full Federal Court has fined the CFMEU $300,000 and the CEPU $130,000 over a 2011 industrial campaign; penalties that are almost three times higher than originally sought by the construction watchdog.
The Federal Court has today imposed a $25,000 fine on a former CFMEU lodge secretary who committed contempt when he refused to comply with an order to allow a search of his home.
The ROC has updated its Federal Court claims against the TWU after the union found a back-up of its Queensland membership database it said was lost when the outgoing state secretary made all the branch's employees redundant in 2010, but the watchdog says it lacks vital information about who could vote.
Any possibility of the FWC moving towards the UK employment tribunal's user-pays regime might have been stymied after its highest court found that recently-introduced fees for individuals of up to $2,000 prevented access to justice and were unlawful.
Two maritime unions concerned about protecting their territory are seeking to intervene in the Fair Work Commission's hearings to consider the planned three-way merger of the MUA with the CFMEU and the TCFU.
A former Melbourne fruit market owner and his company have been hit with record penalties of more than $660,000 after "arrogantly" ignoring FWO warnings about underpaying a vulnerable Afghan refugee.
