The FWC has made a rare costs order against an IR advisor, after Unfair Dismissals Australia's "reckless" failure to provide an employer with supplementary witness statements forced hearings into an unscheduled fourth day.
RAFFWU is moving quickly to object to expedited employer-proposed, ACTU-supported COVID-19 variations to the Fast Food Award, applying to businesses not qualifying for the JobKeeper scheme and workers who fall through the cracks.
The FWC has approved a coal mining deal first suspected to be "bordering on a sham" due to calculated steps to employ four "clean skin" and two "friendly" probationary workers to negotiate it in near-record time.
Musicians and administrative employees at one of Australia's largest performing arts companies have been offered regular access to confidential financial reports as part of an agreement to cut wages and hours to the end of next year in response to COVID-19.
As some employers suggest that FWC's minimum wage panel might need to freeze or cut minimum pay due to the coronavirus crisis, the UK has lifted its wage floor to 60% of the median.
The FWC has upheld the dismissal of a paramedic accused of prematurely ending the resuscitation of a teenager who hanged himself, finding she lied to an investigator about her reasons for doing so and made "debasing" statements.
Three unions and an employer group have applied to introduce a temporary hourly allowance of almost $5 an hour for disability workers to compensate the sector's low-paid workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The FWC has published a JobKeeper disputes benchbook as it clocks 120 applications to deal with disputes under the scheme, while a union-run 'Jobscammer' website recorded more than 250 responses in its first week.
In what stands as a tribute to the qualities the FWC looks for in employers' legal representatives, an experienced tribunal member has praised a senior associate for "a masterclass in the art of advocacy" that avoided bamboozling or belittling an unrepresented bus driver.
An FWC majority finding that an Uber delivery driver could not bring an unfair dismissal claim as she was an independent contractor highlights a need for legislative intervention to recognise that many gig workers are employees, says a leading employment law academic.
