Unions are using a little-known provision in the Fair Work Act to pursue the sole director of a collapsed company in a bid to secure $2 million of unpaid severance entitlements due to 57 redundant employees under the terms of their enterprise agreements.
A Fair Work Australia full bench late today approved the McDonald's Australia enterprise agreement, reversing a ruling by Commissioner Donna McKenna, who found it failed to meet pre-approval requirements and the no disadvantage test.
Commissioner Donna McKenna sought to play the role of devil's advocate and took a "misconceived" approach in assessing whether a national agreement negotiated between McDonald's and the SDA should be approved, lawyers for the fast-food chain told a FWA full bench today.
The Federal Court has today ordered three Queensland Rail entities to pay the maximum $33,000 penalty for 20 separate failures to consult unions about major change affecting up to 15,000 employees.
In another ruling likely to further fuel debate about consistency in agreement approval processes, FWA today refused to certify a deal that unilaterally removed all penalties, overtime and allowances and gave the five employees covered no opportunity to appoint a bargaining agent until they cast their vote.
Fair Work Australia has rejected an employer's argument that a union that sought a 25%-plus pay increase in the first year for its security guard members could not be genuinely trying to reach an agreement.
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Clauses that require outsourced labour hire suppliers or contractors to have union agreements cannot be lawfully included in Fair Work enterprise agreements or underpin applications for protected action ballots, a Fair Work Australia full bench has found.
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Take-home pay orders are not available where an employee receives less pay because a shorter minimum engagement period applies under a modern award, FWA has ruled.
