Employment Minister Eric Abetz has moved quickly to douse suggestions from a junior minister that the federal government is looking to reform penalty rates, issuing a short statement this afternoon that any claims that it is planning to alter the way they are determined are "false".
The Federal Court has relied on a 25-year "common understanding" in the transport industry in preference to the literal wording of an award in rejecting a TWU claim for Linfox day workers to be paid crib time.
Two long-serving Qantas flight attendants who breached the airline's taxi card policy have won their jobs back this morning after the Fair Work Commission found there was no valid reason for their dismissals.
The Fair Work Commission has thrown out an unfair dismissal claim brought by a TNT Australia forklift driver who lied about working for a competitor while certified unfit for work and sending his employer a threatening letter, describing his evidence as a "farrago of lies".
The Fair Work Commission has granted right of entry permits to a union branch secretary who initially failed to disclose that his previous one had been suspended for three months after an altercation with a union member, and to an organiser who visited 90 sites after his last permit expired.
Requiring employees to sit in a "slow moving car park queue" and travel up to two hours a day to and from a new work location does not count as reasonable alternative employment, the Fair Work Commission has ruled in a decision to award six workers redundancy pay.
A Federal Circuit Court judge has slammed a barrister who said she was too "busy" to file written submissions in an adverse action case, criticising her conduct as "contemptuous" of his orders and "discourteous" to the court. He also said her involvement in another case might require investigation by "relevant authorities".
In a dispute that could extend to the eastern seaboard, major stevedore DP World says it will lock out its Fremantle workforce tomorrow and subcontract its work to competitor, Patrick.
In a new report, the Business Council of Australia has turned its sights on penalty rates, the permitted content of enterprise agreements and unwanted third party intervention in employment relationships, at the same time advocating that the safety net of pay and conditions be "strongly enforced".
