The FWO's costly pursuit of a cleaning company over inadvertent underpayments of $5200 over a nine-month period has drawn fire from a judge who questioned the "limited need for deterrence" in a case where Fair Work Act objectives could have been met through enforceable undertakings.
Aerocare's attempt to revive its appeal against the rejection of a new agreement has fallen short, after an FWC full bench rejected the aviation services company's "misconceived" offer to improve conditions for casuals.
An employer could face a ninefold increase in fines ordered by the Federal Circuit Court after the FWO successfully appealed the judgment on the basis that it wrongly grouped contraventions as a single course of action.
If proven ability to interpret and enforce rules and skin thick enough to withstand regular abuse are among the prerequisites required to lead the construction industry watchdog, then new Workplaces Minister Craig Laundy would appear to have chosen well.
An Uber driver's failure to convince the FWC that he is an employee is unlikely to deter other challenges according to an academic, while the case raises questions as to whether traditional legal tests can be applied to the gig economy.
A court has thrown out a union bid to shut down a report into discriminatory behaviour in the Victorian fire services, confirming that the state human rights commission's powers extend to investigating statutory corporations.
The IR portfolio has been demoted in Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's reshuffle this afternoon, with the role given to a new junior minister, Craig Laundy.
The FWO is investigating protests at Melbourne's Webb Dock during the MUA's dispute with stevedore VICT which, despite Victorian Supreme Court cease-orders, continued until the worker's temporary reinstatement last Friday.
Two employees have had to forego more than $9000 in redundancy entitlements after the FWC accepted a financially-distressed employer could not meet the cost of liquidating his business in order to qualify for the federal government's Fair Entitlements Guarantee scheme.
The Federal Circuit Court should have let a dismissed employee correct the name of her employer in a general protections claim even though it was wrong on the FWC's s368 certificate, the Federal Court has ruled.
