Legal page 233 of 566

The Queensland Labor government has introduced legislation to criminalise wage theft and to establish a small claims process in the State courts which has conciliation as a first step.

A senior FWC member has declined to recuse himself from hearing an unfair dismissal case brought by a disbarred lawyer who accused him of "blatant bias" and having a "sweet little racket" bullying unrepresented workers.

The FWC has upheld Essential Energy's dismissal of a whistleblowing risk manager deemed unable to perform her job's inherent requirements after suffering PTSD and taking extended leave following a finding that she breached its code of conduct.

BHP's attempt to win approval of two enterprise deals to entrench an in-house labour hire company that now employs more than 2000 workers across its mining operations has been dealt a major blow by an FWC full bench majority, which has ruled that its failure to properly explain pay arrangements meant the workforce did not genuinely agree.

An account manager who is suing Virgin Australia for alleged pregnancy discrimination and adverse action says it imposed an excessive workload when she returned from her first period of parental leave and made her redundant during her second.

In a decision highlighting the need for JobKeeper-enabling directions to be reasonable, an FWC full bench has quashed a finding that Prosegur rightly required full-time, part-time and casual armoured vehicle operators to work a minimum 25 hours a week.

The CFMMEU and one of its officials organised unlawful industrial action by 16 building workers to coerce a construction subcontractor to make an agreement for a stadium construction project, the Federal Court has ruled

Hutchison Ports has won an extended five-day notice period for industrial action after failing to do so last year, winning a ruling that the coronavirus pandemic has tipped the balance and created exceptional circumstances.

The AAT has overruled the Attorney-General's Department's refusal to make a FEG redundancy payment to a worker who claims she stayed on at the administrator's request to help with winding-down a failed company, but then had her retrenchment payout denied when employee numbers fell from 60 to below the eligibility threshold of 15.

The MUA has vowed to press ahead with bargaining at four stevedores despite employer resistance to its policy stance against automation and outsourcing of work.