Food manufacturer Uncle Tobys denied procedural fairness to an employee when it dismissed him after he was convicted of child p-rnography and s-xual harassment offences, Fair Work Australia (FWA) has ruled.
A laundromat manager sacked while on sick leave - in part because Work Choices was about to be scrapped - has been awarded six months' pay plus $7,500 in penalties, after the Federal Court found her dismissal unlawful.
Clauses seeking to enable employees to opt-out of agreement coverage fundamentally undermine collective bargaining and are inconsistent with the Fair Work laws, Fair Work Australia has ruled.
When then Workplace Relations Minister Julia Gillard introduced her Fair Work Bill into Parliament in November 2008, employers' criticisms centred on its right of entry and bargaining changes, while unions celebrated the end of the harsher elements of Work Choices. One year since the legislation became law, Workplace Express has asked major IR players - including new Minister, Simon Crean - to review its first 12 months.
Woodside has won FWA orders requiring the striking employees of a key contractor on its Pluto LNG project to return to work, in a ruling the construction union says makes a mockery of the Fair Work laws.
Kearney takes up ACTU role; Bench publishes McDonald's undertakings; FWA President extends time for submissions on Division 2B State awards; and FWA publishes final version of minimum wage transition paper.
Employers from tomorrow begin what for some will be the complex task of phasing in changes to penalties, loadings and wage rates under the modern award transitional provisions, while FWA's first minimum wage decision also takes effect. It all happens a year to the day when the bulk of the then Rudd Government's new IR regime became law.
The ALAEA and Virgin Tech have struck a deal that delivers the airline's licenced maintenance aircraft engineers a 13% pay increase over 39 months and an extra week's annual leave, as well as bringing those on AWAs into the collective fold. The union's federal secretary, Steve Purvinas, has meanwhile been cleared to run for another four-year term after the Federal Court rejected an AEC ruling barring him from seeking re-election because he did not hold a current engineer's licence.
The AWU and the employer group representing Queensland fruit and vegetable growers have reached a deal under which the union will drop its appeal against 100-odd enterprise agreements containing "voluntary hours" clauses in exchange for a joint push to create more secure, high-skilled jobs and an opportunity for the union to build its presence in the industry.
