Workplace policy page 34 of 80

The CFMMEU's mining and energy division has asked the FWC to halt the rollout of BHP's mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy at the Mt Arthur open cut coal mine in the Hunter Valley, claiming it is not a lawful and reasonable direction.

A Supreme Court judge has slapped down a FWC presidential member's "clarion call" for Australians to "vigorously" reject the notion of mandatory COVID-19 jabs, questioning her assertions about the efficacy of vaccines and declaring it is not her role to challenge the validity or appropriateness of public health orders.

Employers are generally on "solid ground" in suspending or dismissing workers who refuse reasonable directions to be vaccinated to perform their jobs, but face a range of practical difficulties if they take such action, according to Adelaide University Professor of Law, Andrew Stewart.

An FWC full bench has today found errors in a ruling that upheld a private school's sacking of a 52-year-old teacher for hugging students and other misdeeds, but has refused to overturn it.

In a significant ruling on academic free speech, the High Court has today unanimously upheld James Cook University's right to dismiss academic Peter Ridd for breaching its conduct code when he denounced its climate change research.

A recruitment company's former operations manager, who is claiming $20,000 for the hurt and humiliation flowing from her alleged discriminatory sacking due to her pregnancy, has won more time to pursue her claim, while her employer has failed in its bid for costs against her "neophyte" lawyer, after a court accepted that there had been "a comedy of errors" that fell well short of representative error.

The more than one million retail workers need more stable rosters, better pay and greater job security, along with flexible and affordable childcare, to enable them to meet their caring responsibilities, according to a new university study commissioned by the SDA.

The insights gained from the rapid shift to working from home during COVID-19 could lead to the adoption of a "genuine consultation" requirement under the Fair Work Act's "right to request" flexibility that might start "a conversation aimed at reaching a mutually suitable arrangement", according to a new paper by two leading IR academics.

In an "unusual" case against a senior HR officer and an operations manager accused of bullying an area manager who "over-reacted" to a restructure, the FWC says it will close the matter if all agree to a host of recommendations or it will seek more evidence to continue the case.

The FWC has thrown out a request from an ambulance paramedic sacked for refusing the influenza vaccination to refer purported questions of law to the Federal Court.