A company that relied on an FWC online calculator to notify workers of a ballot has had the resulting agreement thrown out for failing to provide the statutory seven-day access period, prompting a senior Commission member to lament his inability to "overcome what is clearly a procedural failure".
The CFMMEU has begun Federal Court action that seeks to hold John Holland and CPB Contracting vicariously liable for subcontractors' alleged underpayment of wages and entitlements on Canberra's light rail project, with the union seeking to recover $700,000 and impose penalties.
The Federal Court has heard that "another agency" is now involved in the Federal Police investigation into media leaks about last year's raids on the AWU's offices.
An FWC full bench has quashed a finding that BHP Coal should have kept paying or considered alternative duties for a mineworker while his driving licence was suspended, saying it would be tantamount to requiring an employer to excuse from duties but pay workers who turned up drunk.
A company director has been found personally liable for her company's adverse action when a visa worker was threatened with the sack for speaking to an FWO inspector.
On the second of 16 days of FWC hearings into an IEU equal pay claim for early childhood teachers, the union is blaming low wages for a skill shortage in the overwhelmingly female-dominated sector, while the ACTU says the case will test whether the Fair Work Act's equal pay principle can deliver.
The UFU's Victorian branch has defended using debt collectors to pursue unpaid dues from some members, who reportedly objected to paying an annual levy to fund the union's litigation costs.
In a decision confirming that employers must "expressly" advise workers when their job is at risk and provide them enough time to demonstrate improvement, an FWC full bench has quashed a finding that a bike shop complied with the Small Business Unfair Dismissal Code when sacking one of its mechanics.
The FWC will next week respond to reports urging it to speed up and reduce the cost to employers of unfair dismissal and adverse action claims, with a new small business division being held out as a chance to weed out "frequent flyers" pursuing applications of dubious merit.
In a ruling that builds on the recent "shadow lawyers" decision, an FWC full bench has found that a large company with in-house IR legal expertise does not require approval to engage a law firm to prepare its defence of a self-represented worker's dismissal claim.
