Shadow Workplace Relations Minister Michealia Cash has told a forum of resource employers that the new intractable bargaining framework is among the "worst elements" of the Albanese Government's workplace makeover of the past two years, while revealing that she is "carefully consulting" with stakeholders on Coalition IR policies to take to the next election.
The FWC has ordered a small business owner to compensate his "disgruntled" ex-partner after finding she withdrew money from the company account in the context of their "deteriorating relationship", not as an employee wanting to damage the enterprise.
Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke has praised the effective advocacy by resource employer organisation AREEA when it won concessions to Same Job, Same Pay provisions for service contractor members before the passage of the Closing Loopholes legislation.
The FWC has refused to reduce compensation for an unfairly dismissed employee who made an "understandable" decision not to apply for similar jobs after his sacking, because although his contract contained an unreasonable and "most likely unenforceable" non-compete clause, an "ordinary worker cannot be expected to know this".
In a decision with echoes of the CFMEU's failed opposition to a controversial non-union power industry deal that went all the way to a full Federal Court, the FWC has approved a civil construction agreement after rejecting the union's "granular" approach to explaining its terms.
A MEU lodge president with an "extensive" disciplinary record has narrowly won his job back at a South32 coal mine, but not before having his backpay halved for failing to report the safety incident that led to his sacking.
A bank manager has failed to establish that his employer lacked reasonable business grounds for refusing his request to work solely from home to aid his injured yoga instructor partner's recovery as she conducted 15 high-intensity lessons per week.
Interested parties have until noon today to comment on how legislative definitions of "workplace delegates" and "enterprise" interact when there are different employers in the same workplace, as part of the FWC's requirement to insert a delegates' rights term into all modern awards by the end of June.
