The construction sector watchdog has dropped sham contracting and wage and entitlement breaches from its investigations focus, with its new director telling Senate Estimates hearings in Canberra yesterday that it was returning to "core business".
An effective, regulatory authority similar to the Fair Work Ombudsman to handle discrimination matters would help enforce and develop workplace harassment laws, according to a Melbourne labour law academic.
A former director has failed to convince the Federal Circuit Court that a rarely-used statutory criminal offence provision in the Fair Work Act enabled him to pursue a private right of action, but the court has left the door open for him to resume his damages claim.
Employment Minister Eric Abetz has cited three 2010 rulings to support his claim of inconsistent decision-making by the Fair Work Commission – the Coalition's main justification for considering introducing a new appeals jurisdiction.
The Federal Circuit Court has found that a company applied unlawful duress to three service technicians in 2009 when it set a three-day deadline to sign statutory individual contracts and threatened to take them off lucrative shift work if they refused.
Employment Minister Eric Abetz has appointed regulatory impact analysis expert Rex Deighton-Smith to conduct a review of the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal that will be completed in the first quarter of next year.
AMMA chief executive Steve Knott will throw his organisation's weight behind the Abbott Government's proposal for a new appeals body for the FWC, in a speech in Perth today that will slam the tribunal's current composition and decision-making and criticise its President for commenting on policy issues.
A tribunal has found that an employer's failure to formalise an employee's flexible work arrangements to meet her caring responsibilities led to her seeing them as an entitlement rather than a privilege, and any attempts to change them as workplace bullying.
Advertising on Facebook and other social media is enough for employers seeking to sponsor temporary overseas visa workers to show they have looked locally first, according to the Department of Immigration.
The FWC is expecting a "significant number" of bullying applications and inquiries next year and has released a model for dealing with them and a draft benchbook, as well as announcing Commissioner Peter Hampton's appointment as the head of its anti-bullying panel.
