Qantas has today reported a massive coronavirus-driven net loss of about $1.7 billion for the 2020-21 financial year and has revealed it has now cut 9400 jobs - some 900 more than expected.
The Morrison Government has refused to budge on employer calls to indemnify businesses that encourage workplace vaccinations and to provide federal support for those who mandate inoculations, while AMMA has warned of the looming "elephant in the room".
In an important out-of-hours conduct ruling, the FWC has reinstated a veteran train driver sacked after he told his employer that he faced possible imprisonment for blowing four times over the blood alcohol limit when police breath-tested him on the road.
The FWC has upheld a Qube subsidiary's sacking of a truck driver who blamed a positive blood alcohol reading on sucking on three-quarters of a 10-pack of Anticol cough lozenges to counter a dry throat.
Unions representing workers at Alliance Airlines have raised doubts about whether the company can force workers to comply with its mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy.
A full bench has overturned an extension of time, originally granted on the basis of his union's representative error, for a truck driver summarily sacked by Coles Supermarkets after testing positive for methamphetamine and cannabinoids.
The FWC has upheld the sacking of an aged care receptionist who refused a flu vaccination on the basis of a previous allergic reaction, finding her employer "objectively prudent" in refusing to let her work despite her doctor's contraindication form.
A Qantas international captain, in a case with some echoes of the landmark Christie case, has won an interim injunction to restrain what he claims is a discriminatory decision to dismiss him because he has turned 65 and can't meet his job's inherent requirements.
The "overwhelming majority" of employers should assume they have no power to force employees to vaccinate against COVID-19, IR Minister Christian Porter said today as his agencies issued new advice on workplace inoculations.
The FWC has upbraided construction company Hansen Yuncken for its "callous" and unfair sacking of a "naïve" trainee who nonetheless provided it with a valid reason by insisting on indefinite unpaid leave to avoid lengthy public transport commutes during COVID-19.
