Another High Court case on the Fair Work Act's protections for employees engaged in union activity might not be far away, according to a leading IR academic, after the CFMEU's appeal against the Federal Court's BHP Coal "scab-sign" ruling was this morning rejected by a 3-2 majority.
Less-stringent English testing, a fast-track approval process, retention of market rates and a two-year freeze on the minimum income floor are among the latest changes to Australia's 457 visa program announced by the Federal Government.
RMIT honorary professor and long-serving IR academic Breen Creighton says Australian labour law legislation has been characterised by knee-jerk responses to non-existent problems, a lack of willingness to allow existing laws to deal with issues, and "political opportunism", which explains why the major statute had been amended five times a year on average since 2009.
A High Court majority has dismissed the CFMEU's appeal against the Federal Court's decision that BHP Coal did not take adverse action when it dismissed a union delegate when he waved an "anti-scab" sign on a union picket.
Four senior financial employees who argued a misrepresented retention rewards scheme induced them to stay with St George Bank during its merger with Westpac, which then retrenched them, have failed in their primary Federal Court action against the merged bank.
Two council workers who were sacked after visiting the same TAB during working hours have met markedly different fates, with one winning his job back and the other losing his unfair dismissal case.
The Federal Court has ordered former EnergyAustralia corporate director Kate Shea to pay some of the company's costs it incurred in defending her high-profile adverse action claim against it, finding she made unreasonable allegations of s--ual impropriety by her managing director.
The ACTU is close to finalising alcohol and other drug guidelines that support oral testing rather than the urine sampling regime favoured by some employers.
Target has enough HR staff to not need legal representation; Data upload difficulties lead to time extension; Mental health provider given go-ahead to employ ATSI people only; Biggest ever electronic ballot gets go-ahead for DHS; and Former retail group head facing fraud charges.
