Institutions, tribunals, courts page 17 of 354

A FIFO chemist on a Santos-operated vessel who resigned after seeking an "appropriate safe job" while pregnant and challenging instructions to hasten her return from parental leave has established that her employer's cumulative conduct forced her hand.

As the Albanese Government pushes for the passage of its Closing Loopholes legislation that provides new protections for "employee-like" workers, the ABS has revealed its first "experimental estimates" indicating that digital platform workers account for 1% of the working population and most commonly perform food delivery and personal transport tasks.

In a full bench decision exploring what constitutes work-related conduct, essential services provider Ventia has failed to knock out the reinstatement of a firefighter who shared an Only Fans video and a meme showing three naked women in a "sickos" Facebook group of current and former colleagues.

A victim of "appalling" domestic violence did not need to provide independent medical advice to explain why she filed an unfair dismissal application almost four months late, the FWC has found.

Increased wage theft penalties are "inconsequential" without improved enforcement and sanctions, experts have told the Loopholes Bill inquiry.

In a rare decision exploring the statutory definition of "retirement age", a judge has determined that it is the age at which a person qualifies for the pension, rather than when they can access superannuation.

Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke has agreed to change the way the Closing Loopholes Bill regulates gig economy workers, including a requirement that the FWC set minimum standards that reflect their engagement as independent contractors, while the Senate has today passed single-issue IR Bills split-off from the legislation.

A former Indian High Commissioner who paid a live-in domestic worker $9 a day to keep his eight-bedroom Canberra home, after he arranged for her "posting" in Australia for the "reception and entertainment of guests", has been ordered to pay more than $130,000 compensation.

Optus has again failed to overturn a finding that underpaying workers' long service leave entitlements when they leave might count as a continuing offence under Victorian law, clearing the way for the State's Wage Inspectorate to pursue daily fines that could run into millions for the period before the telco rectified the alleged issue.

Former IR barrister Yaseen Shariff has told a ceremony welcoming him to the Federal Court how during his childhood in India his grandmother urged him to adopt the "dogged" character of Australian cricket captain Allan Border, while the gathering learned how he came to be known among chamber colleagues as "The Fox".