A retrenched educator who rejected an alternative role because she wanted to keep working from home at least a day a week has lost her severance entitlements, after the FWC found she did not have a formal right to maintain her flexible arrangements.
The SDA has entered into a heads of agreement with the Adelaide-based operator of 20 regional Foodland and IGA supermarkets to potentially settle a class action it values at $4 million on behalf of hundreds of workers.
The FWC has found that a mine superintendent who "supervised supervisors" is not covered by the professional employees award and his pay exceeds the high income threshold, rendering him unable to pursue his unfair dismissal claim.
The FWC has set aside 17 days from October 20 and November 25 for a full bench to hear a major SDA challenge to junior rates in the retail, fast food and pharmacy awards, while Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth has responded to a call to weigh in.
Employers with significant casual workforces have been given a guided tour of new legislative filters for assessing whether proposed deals are genuinely agreed, in a FWC decision focussing on the Fair Work Act's "employed at the time" provision.
The FWC has refused to separate an NBN engineer involved in a dispute over allegedly unpaid hours from a manager held to have bullied him, instead ordering mediation after finding his own behaviour and "pedantic" approach is contributing to his problems.
CFMEU national leader Zach Smith is stepping back from his role as secretary of the under-administration construction division to focus on its Victorian branch, stating that while he is "willing to take responsibility for decisions I make", he "cannot be asked to take responsibility for decisions" that are not his.
A Canberra contractor that blocked CFMEU officials from investigating safety issues has been hit with higher penalties after conceding that a judge mistakenly bundled obstruction and misrepresentation breaches together when determining fines.
The FWC has warned MEU general vice president Stephen Smyth it will not be so accommodating next time he wants to renew his entry permit should he ever repeat behaviour that attracted more than $80,000 in fines for using slurs such as "f--king scab", "maggot" and "dirty rat" during a coal mine strike.
Century-old Restaurant and Catering Australia has applied to register as an employer organisation in an apparent attempt to differentiate itself from a rival peak body established by major industry figures last year.
