The Fair Work Ombudsman has begun the first proceedings using tougher new provisions relating to providing false and misleading documents during an investigation, Senate Estimates hearings have been told this week.
Unions NSW will in December argue before the High Court that that the "desired goal" of State restrictions on spending by third party campaigners is to deliberately create an uneven playing field by ensuring parties and candidates enjoy a "privileged position" in elections.
The construction watchdog is investigating whether Master Builders Tasmania charged induction fees for more than 120 Chinese plasterers in order to work on a major project in Hobart.
In a first glimpse of common fund orders that law firm Adero plans to seek in a suite of IR class actions, the Federal Court has given hundreds of current and former Airservices Australia managers until mid-December to opt out of an underpayments case or be bound by its payment terms.
The FWC has further clarified the circumstances in which the signatures of a majority of workers can compel an employer to bargain with a union, finding that inviting employees to add their names to a petition occasionally left in an unlocked car did not reduce its force.
The Jobs Department has told a Senate Estimates hearing that it met with labour hire company Workpac following the full Federal Court's crucial casual leave decision in Skene, but that it hasn't drafted a Bill to address the ruling.
Class action law firm Adero says it believes labour supplier One Key Workforce wound up owing more than 2000 mineworkers on casual contracts far more than the $38 million sum estimated by administrators, as it prepares to file a claim holding its parent company liable as their "true employer".
Note: This article has been updated with a clarification about former ministerial staffer Ben Davies.
A year after AFP raids on the AWU's offices, the union says that its private investigators have failed to locate the former chief-of staff to then Employment Minister Michaelia Cash to serve a subpoena on him.
A full Federal Court has overruled a finding that a reasonable overtime hours clause in a coal loader's enterprise agreement gave it the power to increase extra weekly time from two hours to almost nine.
Retail union RAFFWU says Woolworths Supermarkets workers' 93% vote for a new agreement will not affect plans to challenge its approval, nor its continued bid to terminate the retailer's nominally-expired 2012 deal before the new one clears the FWC.
