The South Australian branch of the AWU has refused to participate in a hearing into a major grain company's successful agreement termination bid, telling the FWC it has "no confidence" in a legal process for employer terminations that unfairly bolsters their bargaining position.
The Fair Work Commission has blocked an attempt by 83 employees of an oil and gas refinery at Geelong from resigning en masse as members of an in-house Fire Auxiliary Team in a disagreement over safety and training.
In the wake of the public spotlight on the Qantas "inclusive language" guidelines, one of its baggage handlers has failed to convince the FWC that tearing a colleague's shirt, shoving him against a locker and telling him to f-ck off back to his country were not sackable offences but rather a bit of "argy bargy" between friends, consistent with the workplace culture.
A judge has chosen to overlook an admission of adverse action included in a solicitor's "embellished" employer response, despite noting that the statement was approved by the company's director.
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In a decision where the employer's case was embarrassingly "scuttled" by its own witness, a senior FWC member has found that Ausgrid failed to inform four safety specialists during job interviews that they wouldn't be receiving an allowance due to them under the relevant agreement.
In a significant decision on multi-hiring arrangements, a court has ruled that an Australia Post employee holding two "separate and distinct" part-time positions could not base overtime and other entitlements on combined hours.
The Fair Work Commission has sought to better delineate the law around so-called constructive dismissals, in a case in which it lambasted a multinational company's HR department for overseeing a process it likened to "entrapment".
In a novel decision on the need to consider alternative duties for incapacitated workers, the FWC has found an agreement clause requiring directions to be reasonable trumped BHP Coal's common law right to refuse to allow a mineworker to perform only part of his job.
