Rail freight operator Aurizon is to cut more than 300 jobs in central and north Queensland, with Rockhampton workers to bear the brunt of the impact as the city's historic maintenance workshops are shuttered.
Qantas is once again being forced to defend its approach to employee classification, with the FWC today commencing a three-day hearing into allegations the airline is requiring senior catering coordinators to fulfil a similar role at significantly reduced pay after effectively rechristening their positions.
Employers needn't comply with rigid performance management processes when dismissing poorly-performing employees, as long as they can point to conscious and concerted efforts to address the worker's perceived shortcomings, the FWC has found.
The FWC has called on employers to introduce a greater range of disciplinary options like fines and unpaid suspensions into agreements to avoid "inappropriately lenient or inappropriately harsh" responses to misconduct that are problematic for all parties concerned.
The Federal Court has reserved judgment on whether hundreds of charity fundraisers for a major marketing agency can mount a class action to pursue it for alleged sham contracting.
An accountancy firm that knowingly failed to maintain current award rates of pay in its MYOB payroll system has been found accessorially liable for an employer's underpayments.
Caltex has established a $20 million "assistance fund" for franchise employees who have been underpaid, but insists that its franchising model does not need fixing.
In a rare decision on stand-down provisions under the Fair Work Act, the Federal Court has ruled that a contractor failed to comply with its obligation to pay its permanent part-time school cleaners normally during the 16 weeks of school holidays.
A court has found an employer underpaid a worker by more than $230,000 because it "recklessly disguised the true legal nature" of a 20-year-plus employment relationship by classifying him as an independent contractor.
