A major employer-clientele law firm is predicting that unions will become more aggressive in their pursuit of wage and job security claims this year, and that employers will respond in kind by seeking to unilaterally end bargaining negotiations and turning to regulators like the ACCC.
Two mineworkers sacked for breaching "lifesaving" rules at a mine owned and operated by BHP Coal have been reinstated after the Fair Work Commission found their dismissals disproportionate and inconsistent.
A shipping company breached an officer's contract of employment and failed to follow its discrimination policy when it conducted a flawed investigation into alleged bullying by her captain, a full Federal Court has ruled.
A high-level FWC full bench will decide what constitutes being "at work" under the Fair Work Act's bullying regime after hearing argument this morning from three DP World workers, the company, the MUA, ACCI and the AiG.
The Fair Work Commission has warned the Dapto Leagues Club it might encounter difficulties enforcing its new policy against employee lip piercings or visible body art, noting the irony of its approach given "a majority of professional footballers" are "covered in tattoos".
Independent Contractors Australia has challenged an ACCC ruling allowing the TWU to collectively bargain on behalf of a group of owner drivers engaged by Toll.
DP World is free to resume urine testing under its national drug and alcohol policy after a five-member Fair Work Commission full bench yesterday upheld its challenge to a deputy president's ruling that its enterprise agreements excluded the method.
Another High Court case on the Fair Work Act's protections for employees engaged in union activity might not be far away, according to a leading IR academic, after the CFMEU's appeal against the Federal Court's BHP Coal "scab-sign" ruling was this morning rejected by a 3-2 majority.
The ACTU is close to finalising alcohol and other drug guidelines that support oral testing rather than the urine sampling regime favoured by some employers.