The Fair Work Ombudsman will seek special leave from the High Court to appeal a full Federal Court ruling on whether hundreds of casual mushroom workers on non-compliant piecework agreements are entitled by default to be paid hourly rates under the horticultural award.
The FWC has upheld the sacking of a car salesperson accused of forging a customer's signature to secure finance on a vehicle, finding the alleged misconduct of "sufficient gravity" to outweigh an imperfect dismissal process.
A subsidiary of an established mining services company has failed to convince the FWC not to hear from the CFMMEU on a deal covering eight workers at the time it was made, purportedly because the Fair Work Act intends for small business to enter into agreements "without hindrance".
The CFMMEU has been refused permission to appeal the approval of a labour hire company's deal on the basis the black coal award incorporated in the predecessor agreement did not allow for casual production and engineering workers, a majority FWC bench finding it possible the provision's absence was "simply overlooked" by the employer.
While expressing sympathy for a receptionist forced to assume responsibility for her 11-year-old sister after their mother's death, the FWC has rejected her claim she was constructively dismissed when her employer refused to modify her hours and guarantee leave for school holidays.
The FWC has lashed a government department for leaks that sabotaged the job prospects of the former head of its art leasing program after he resigned in the face of adverse misconduct findings.
A sacked director has failed to win costs allegedly arising from an attempt to paint as a money grab his misnaming of the respondent, the FWC finding his former employer was entitled to object to what was an admitted and "egregious" error.
In what stands as a best-practice model for inherent requirements dismissals, the FWC has endorsed an HR department's handling of a complex case involving an injured storeperson unable to lift more than five kilograms.
A wood mill operator does not have to pay its former workforce for a five-week stand-down period after an FWC full bench confirmed that the time lost was due to damaged machinery, rather than the bushfires that rendered it inoperative in the first place.
The Victorian Department of Parliamentary Services' failure to utilise its HR expertise has contributed to a finding that it unfairly sacked a senior electoral officer on the basis that he lost the trust and confidence of the Labor candidate he served.
