The Federal Court has refused an application by a company to be represented by its operations manager rather than a lawyer, ruling that the manager lacked "the necessary degree of objectivity and skill" required to conduct the case.
A full Federal Court majority has found that the court cannot treat a "lawful request" or a party's motivation for taking coercive industrial action as a mitigating factor when assessing penalties and has ordered a twelve-fold increase in fines against the CFMEU for organising a blockade at Perth International Airport in 2013.
The Federal Court has found that while AMWU, CFMEU and AWU organisers did not "instruct", "advise" or "encourage" employees at a Victorian paper mill to walk off the job for three days, they and the unions were knowingly involved in the unlawful strikes.
The Turnbull Government has introduced legislation to extend responsibility for deliberate and serious underpayments to franchisors and holding companies, in the wake of the problems exposed at 7-Eleven.
The FWC will allow the ABCC to include material the CFMEU claims is prejudicial in its application to axe the entry permits of three officials who allegedly abused their rights when they visited Lend Lease sites in 2014.
As a court fines a regional café more than $500,000 for exploiting overseas workers and the FWO pursues two other cafes for unlawful "cash-back" schemes, Ombudsman Natalie James has welcomed the Federal Government's commitment to introducing laws to prohibit such arrangements.
The NSW Public Service Association has defied a court order restraining it from organising its members to strike in protest at the State Government's plans to privatise disability support work and will now face substantial penalties in the Supreme Court.
A court has fined the CFMEU and two organisers almost $100,000, after finding the union engaged in unlawful coercion and adverse action when it organised a blockade at the $1.6 billion Port of Melbourne expansion project because an employer refused to bargain.
A tip-off from the Fair Work Ombudsman has led to the prosecution of a former company director for alleged breaches of the corporations law when he sought to deregister an entity that owed the Federal Government more than $50,000 in penalties for unpaid employee entitlements.
