In a decision that has the potential to expand the number of general protections cases, a Fair Work Commission full bench headed by the president has ruled that the tribunal has no power to dismiss an application on jurisdictional grounds and must hold a conference once a claim has been lodged.
A Chinese company that brought 24 workers to Australia to dismantle machinery and paid them just a portion of their total wage during the four-plus months they were here – with the balance then delivered on their return to China – has been fined $14,850.
A Fair Work Commission full bench has rejected – by a two to one majority – a raft of claims to vary annual leave provisions in modern awards as part of the two-year transitional review, finding that many of them would more appropriately be dealt with in the broader review next year.
In a split decision, a NSW IRC full bench has upheld an appeal against orders preventing the dismissal of three corrections officers, after finding that Deputy President Rod Harrison had incorrectly based his decision on whether the officers were guilty of serious misconduct.
A new paper recommends changes to the Fair Work Act to provide stronger protections for students undertaking vocational placements and work experience, suggesting they have become the new "phenomenon" of the workplace in the 21st century following the casualisation of the 1980s and 1990s.
The NSW USU has failed to prove that an unregistered agreement with an employer preserving employment conditions was intended to create contractual relations, with the NSW IRC ruling that there was no consideration passing from the union or the employees to the Bega Valley Shire Council.
The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption has today found former CFMEU national secretary John Maitland corrupt and recommended advice be sought from the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions on criminally prosecuting him over his role in obtaining a coal exploration licence that earned him millions of dollars.
The Coalition has largely succeeded in neutralising IR as a 2013 federal election issue by promising to retain – at least for one term – Labor's Fair Work framework, but Australia's two major parties are still going to the September 7 poll with some significant policy differences, including on paid parental leave, right of entry, and construction industry regulation. Workplace Express compares their IR policies and those of the Greens, whose future hold on the Senate balance of power is uncertain.
A Fair Work Commission full bench majority has rejected a "zero tolerance" approach to employees distributing pornographic material at work, overturning a ruling that the dismissal of two Australia Post workers was not unfair.
