A Federal Court full court majority has given a broad meaning to a section in the Fair Work Act's general protections that says employees must be "able to complain" to establish a breach of their workplace rights.
A full Federal Court has delivered a pointed rebuke to FWC President Iain Ross, finding it could not consider a challenge to the decision of a Commission full bench he led because it was not, "with respect, any decision. . . at all".
A full Federal Court has today, in declaring a Boral subsidiary vicariously liable for the 2009 s-xual harassment of a plywood grader, described a judge's six-year delay in delivering a contrary finding as bringing the justice system "into disrepute".
In a decision contemplating the extent to which pleadings can be changed during proceedings, an appeal court has refused a manager's last-minute bid to claim he was assaulted by co-workers when "impelled" to perform in gold hotpants during a company conference.
An FWC member must rehear the unfair dismissal claim of a glazier sacked for frequent absences following surgery, a full bench finding he failed to consider whether the employer notified the worker of reasons later found to be valid or gave him a chance to respond.
A full Federal Court has largely dismissed the CFMMEU's broad-ranging appeal against more than $300,000 in fines imposed for attempting to force a contractor into signing a union-approved deal, agreeing only that publication orders served no purpose and that too much was made of an "eenie meenie miney mo!" text message.
A tribunal member "counter-intuitively" refused to award compensation to an unfairly dismissed employee after failing to assess financial loss and wrongly asserting that she had admitted to competing priorities, an FWC full bench has found.
In the ROC's appeal against the Federal Court ruling that invalidated its probe into the AWU's donations to Get Up, it claims the trial judge misconstrued prosecution time limits and misunderstood what constitutes "reasonable grounds" for the watchdog to start an investigation.
An FWC full bench has allowed a casual worker to claim unfair dismissal after finding a senior tribunal member wrongly focussed on her irregular "pattern" of days and hours in holding she had not met the minimum employment period.
The law firm behind a Crown class action says legislative change is needed after a full Federal Court quashed a decision that voided former employees' confidentiality obligations in order to aid the efficient administration of justice.