The FWC has upheld the sacking of a manager on the Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest-owned Lizard Island who emailed a former colleague's employment contract to a friend with HR experience in an effort to build an underpayment case.
The Albanese Government has today appointed four new FWC members with union or employee-friendly backgrounds, while indicating its "rebalancing" of the tribunal hasn't yet been achieved.
Working without a valid visa defeated a Costco employee's unfair dismissal claim, despite the necessary permit arriving within days of his sacking, the FWC has found.
Labor-aligned think tank the McKell Institute has called for the Albanese Government to commit to establishing a national labour hire licensing scheme by the end of the year, in a new report commissioned by unions and Woolworths with the aim of protecting horticultural workers.
Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt, who has lodged a submission opposing a major employer bid to insert a conditions buy-out clause in the retail award for workers on as little as $53,680 a year, says it would go against the intent of the awards review and leave the low-paid to be individually "picked off" by their bosses.
A FWC full bench has decided to park its consideration of whether to bring forward the trigger for consultations in model agreement clauses after employers expressed "alarm" at the prospect of requiring it when proposing to introduce a major change rather than when they make a "definite decision".
An employer has clawed back just a fraction of costs it incurred in defending a "weak" and unreasonable unfair dismissal case after the FWC questioned why it needed lawyers to face off against a self-represented trainee nurse who "was not a formidable opponent".
The FWC has upheld the sacking of a Qube worker despite finding she was treated less favourably than two colleagues over a safety incident causing 20 train wagons to roll away, but it has suggested the employer "revisit" potentially disciplining the exonerated pair.
In a decision emphasising the importance of independent medical examinations, the FWC has found it was unfair to dismiss a cold storage worker over an inability to endure sub-zero temperatures without first heeding his doctor's advice to trial a reduced workload.
The FWO has launched a court case seeking penalties against former CFMEU construction and general division Victorian branch secretary John Setka and the union for allegedly attempting to coerce the AFL into sacking its head of umpiring, former ABCC commissioner Steve McBurney.
