Serco Sodexo Defence Services Pty Ltd has failed to convince the Fair Work Commission it obtained employment for the vast bulk of its workforce when it lost its Defence Department contracts last year, and now faces a hefty redundancy bill for the hundreds of employees who found jobs with the new contractors.
A SA Supreme Court full bench has ruled that an employer must pay long service leave to a casual dockhand who worked sporadically for more than 20 years at Port Lincoln Harbour but has also recommended that state parliament urgently fix legislation that reduced his entitlement to almost nothing.
Queenslanders go to the polls on Saturday with the Newman Government sticking to its IR approach and the Labor Opposition promising to reverse many of the changes implemented over the last two years, as well as ending FIFO-only workplaces and establishing a state Productivity Commission.
The Federal Court has found that requiring an employer to "avert" the redundancy of a senior employee would impose a substantial burden that goes beyond its obligations under its enterprise agreement.
Former Victorian IR Minister Neil Pope and State Police Association secretary Ron Iddles have been recognised in this year's Australia Day honours list.
A stand-off over the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation's payments to the ACTU's campaign fund has raised doubts over whether its delegates will be entitled to attend the peak body's triennial Congress in May.
The Federal Court has ordered a lawyer to personally pay another party's legal costs in a general protections claim, finding that he unreasonably advised his client to add his employer's solicitor to the application.
The Fair Work Commission has rebuffed a Federal Government bid to increase public sector working hours from 36.75 to 38 hours a week and boost the span of hours by 90 minutes a day.
