As the Crown continues its pursuit of a Victorian employer charged with discriminating against employees who raised safety issues, Victoria's Court of Appeal has found that, as a question of law, it must prove only that the concerns were expressed rather than address the workers' "state of mind" at the time.
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 Western Australia court of appeal has rejected the RTBU's bid to reinstate a transit officer sacked for making false allegations against her supervisor, confirming it would be "impracticable" for the employer-employee relationship to continue given the absence of trust between the parties.
An FWC full bench has ordered a re-examination of the sacking of a worker for his "nonchalance" towards OHS obligations, lack of contrition after a workplace mishap and failure to wear safety glasses.
The FWC has confirmed it has the power to determine a dispute between labour supplier WorkPac and the CFMEU over pay cuts at a Rio Tinto coal mine, but its intervention is conditional on the union naming the employees involved.
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.
A full Federal Court has upheld a procedural decision to strike out an amended statement of claim in dismissing CFMEU's appeal alleging BHP Coal took adverse action against miners when it engaged a contractor with a cheaper workforce.
FWC President Iain Ross has refused the NTEU's bid for a full bench to hear Murdoch University's request to terminate its enterprise agreement, which the union claims is a "test case" that will affect up to 20,000 Western Australian higher education employees.
The Federal Court has imposed a $10,000 security of costs order on an industrial advocate who is challenging its refusal to quash alleged adverse findings against her in the Heerey report on the conduct of former FWC Vice President Michael Lawler. Meanwhile, former Howard Government Workplace Relations Minister Peter Reith has been admitted to hospital after a "serious medical emergency".
