The Federal Court will next week hold a preliminary hearing of allegations by a former Australia Post national workers' compensation manager that ex-chief executive Ahmed Fahour caved-in to a union leader's demands to oust him from his role and shelve his efforts to rein-in costs, or face protest rallies and the leaking of sensitive internal documents.
The High Court has reserved its decision on parallel appeals by Esso and the AWU questioning what constitutes a breach of bargaining orders and whether a breach during bargaining means future protected action is not possible.
The Federal Court has rejected claims an employer took adverse action against a dentist it threatened to sack for writing "pugnacious" emails, redirecting mail and refusing to attend disciplinary meetings, ruling that the last two actions amounted to him repudiating his employment contract.
In a case likely to have ramifications for hundreds of existing enterprise deals, the High Court has reserved its decision in Aldi's appeal against a decision knocking out a controversial agreement on the basis it was agreed by prospective employees not yet covered by it.
A Supreme Court has reaffirmed the force of religious laws within employment contracts, restraining administrators at a cash-strapped Sydney synagogue from dismissing a rabbi after finding that his engagement conferred lifetime tenure under Orthodox Jewish law.
A lower court has asked the Federal Court to distinguish between "jurisdiction" and "powers" after wrestling with the question in a case where a union accused an employer of breaching its enterprise agreement and the employer counter-claimed that the agreement was not genuinely agreed.
A court has thrown out a labour hire worker's adverse action claim despite rejecting the respondent's argument that it lacked jurisdiction because the truck driver mistakenly identified her employer.
Liquidators seeking to recover almost $67 million in taxpayer funds paid to former Queensland Nickel employees have avoided a "chase for Skase" scenario after they yesterday served papers on counsel for holidaying ex-director Clive Palmer and 20 others.
A full Federal Court has found a ship's officer who quit the maritime industry after a bungled investigation into alleged bullying by her captain is entitled to a greater proportion of her costs, but rejected claims for more than $1.6 million in damages.
The main protagonists have landed their last blows ahead of Sunday penalty rate cuts coming into effect this weekend, United Voice calling on restaurant and pub patrons to pressure bosses over whether they value their staff, while AiG insists that July 1's parallel "hefty" minimum wage rise not only sees workers better off, but saddles employers with bigger wage bills.
