The Fair Work Commission has rejected an anti-bullying application from a paid carer, ruling he was not a "worker" under the new laws, while also outlining other arrangements that would fall outside the jurisdiction.
A Fair Work Commission full bench headed by the tribunal's president will hear submissions next week on whether unions can lodge bullying order applications on behalf of workers.
A test case that established that the Fair Work Commission is able to consider bullying that occurred before its anti-bullying jurisdiction took effect on January 1 has now been thrown out because the employer is not a "trading" corporation.
In its first substantive order under the new bullying jurisdiction, the Fair Work Commission has directed an employee not to have any unaccompanied contact with a co-worker or make comments about their clothes or appearance.
The Fair Work Commission has ruled that it is not prevented from considering behaviour that occurred before the start of the new bullying jurisdiction on January 1 this year when dealing with applications for orders to stop the conduct.
A Fair Work Commission full bench reserved its decision this morning on whether the tribunal can take account of conduct before the bullying laws began operation on January 1, when making orders under the new regime.
A senior Fair Work Commission full bench will tomorrow hear argument on whether the tribunal can take account of bullying incidents that occurred before this year when it considers making orders under the new jurisdiction.
The Fair Work Commission has issued its first ruling in its new bullying jurisdiction, dismissing a claim because the complainant failed to respond to two requests to provide more details and did not pay the filing fee.
