A Fair Work Commissioner has criticised a union for unreasonably delaying the withdrawal of a notice flagging a stopwork meeting, but says the Fair Work Act does not allow him to order it to pay the costs of an employer that was forced to lodge an application to stop the industrial action.
Employers are likely to rely more heavily on zero tolerance drug and alcohol policies to discipline or dismiss employees, even when there is no evidence of impairment, after an important full Federal Court ruling yesterday.
The ACTU will argue for the re-introduction of compulsory arbitration in its delayed submission to the Productivity Commission's inquiry into the Fair Work laws.
The AiG has called for sweeping changes to the Fair Work laws, including stronger management rights for employers, penalties for lawyers who encourage speculative dismissal or general protections claims, the return of individual contracts, and cashing-out of long service leave.
The Fair Work Act's provisions for ending safety-threatening industrial action are broader than those of its predecessor, a senior FWC member has ruled in her reasons for suspending planned NSW power industry stoppages earlier this month.
NSW Labor will introduce new protections for women who are pregnant or on family-related leave, regulate employee surveillance outside of work, and reverse many of the Coalition's changes to public sector employment if elected on March 28.
The Federal Circuit Court has rejected a worker's claim that she was dismissed because she refused to work overtime with a co-worker rather than because she had assaulted her several months before.
