Virgin's groundbreaking bid for an intractable bargaining declaration is "the quintessential bargaining scenario which the Parliament would have had in mind when enacting the IBD regime", it claims, while the FWC has allowed the ACTU to intervene in the case.
A senior FWC member in extending time by one day says a hospital security officer could not have been expected to ask a lawyer or psychiatrist he met while on remand to "trawl through his inbox" to find notification that he had been sacked.
In a decision pointing to the circumstances under which zombie deals can survive beyond December's drop-dead date, a four-member FWC bench has extended a 2004 agreement by almost 18 months after accepting it provides "significantly" better pay than the award and that negotiations have already begun for a replacement deal.
The FWC has accepted a 48-seconds-late unfair dismissal claim from a worker convinced he filed it just before midnight on the last allowable day, after conceding that the tribunal's online processing quirks might have pushed it beyond the deadline.
A court has limited to about $100,000 the fines it has imposed on an underpaying, now-shuttered labour hire company after accepting that it unintentionally broke the law and that its embarrassed founder is "appropriately remorseful".
BHP has played down the impact of industrial action at its Queensland coal mines, highlighting that the protected action won support from only about 15% of Operations Services production employees in Queensland.
A mechanic who overturned the rejection of his "late" unfair dismissal application has failed to convince a commissioner to recuse himself based on Australian Law Reform Commission unconscious bias research.
CFMMEU mining and energy division members have this week kicked off protected action in BHP's Queensland coal mines, sparking early sparring over the company's proposed ban on allowing workers back into their accommodation camp while on strike.
The FWC has affirmed that blaming late applications on "technical difficulties" without hard evidence is not enough to extend time, even when the margin is just 60 seconds.
A solicitor has been granted permission to re-plead his damages claim against Harmers Workplace Lawyers for allegedly mishandling a discrimination case against his former firm.
