In a decision emphasising the importance of independent medical examinations, the FWC has found it was unfair to dismiss a cold storage worker over an inability to endure sub-zero temperatures without first heeding his doctor's advice to trial a reduced workload.
The FWO has launched a court case seeking penalties against former CFMEU construction and general division Victorian branch secretary John Setka and the union for allegedly attempting to coerce the AFL into sacking its head of umpiring, former ABCC commissioner Steve McBurney.
The High Court will next month begin hearing mining giant Peabody's challenge to a full Federal Court finding that it did not genuinely make workers redundant when it failed to consider whether it could redeploy workers to jobs performed by contractors.
In a ruling that closely examines tensions between agreements and awards, a judge has weighed the "sometimes overcomplicated" approach to interpreting industrial instruments and found that a deal's terms provided the most sensible way to determine shiftworkers' public holiday pay.
Growth in private sector rates of pay is continuing to ease, falling from 3.6% a year in trend terms to 3.3%, while public sector growth has also dropped, according to the ABS.
An accounts manager seeking a month-long extension to lodge an unfair dismissal claim after initially filing a blank form has failed to convince the FWC it was exceptional that she missed the FWC's replies as they landed in her junk mail.
The FAAA says an "in-principle" agreement with Qantas to pay on-hire cabin crew the same as their directly engaged colleagues will be "life changing", but while the Flying Kangaroo has committed to backpaying the difference to November last year it is apparently unable to indicate when it might hit workers' pockets.
The ACCC has today given preliminary approval to Virgin Australia's proposed "wet lease" arrangement with Qatar Airways that enables the local carrier to offer flights to Doha, prompting the TWU to call on the airline to accelerate consultations over a "best practice" model for affected employees.
