Union officials can't use their right to enter premises for discussions with members to gather signatures on petitions or "secure a commitment to a particular course of action in the future", the Federal Court has found, ruling in favour of an employer that blocked access for an organiser who sought workers' backing for a majority support determination.
In a significant decision on the nature of work, the FWC has found that the nursing home at the centre of one of Queensland's deadliest COVID-19 outbreaks should have paid employees for the time spent taking rapid antigen tests before the start of their shifts.
A Smith's Snackfood electrician accused of insubordination and repeatedly refusing to follow directions to assist during a fire has failed to knock out his final warning, but the FWC says his "entirely understandable" application has set his disciplinary record straight.
A senior FWC member has described a public transport agency's vaccination policy as "pressur[ing]" workers to "give up [the] fundamental right" to bodily integrity, before ordering it to pay five train drivers sidelined because of their non-compliance.
The FWC has found that a worker sacked by the Ubuntu Church for obtaining a COVID-19 vaccination is an employee, clearing the way for her to pursue an unfair dismissal claim.
A tram driver whose failure to disclose his stroke "strikes at the heart of the employment relationship" has failed to establish that his employer unfairly sacked him, despite one of the employer's doctors breaching confidentiality requirements to set the record straight.
A senior FWC member has refused to recuse himself for addressing a worker's representative as "mister" in an unfair dismissal case that argued an employer should have permitted an unvaccinated employee to keep working from home during COVID-19 restrictions instead of sacking her.
Victorian courts have vowed to tackle the "open secret" of s-xual harassment, endorsing recommendations that include actively identifying judicial officers known or suspected of such behaviour and "taking steps" to protect vulnerable staff from them.
In a detailed examination of a major government department's early response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Court has rejected union claims that a hastily-conceived working from home policy breached existing arrangements and consultation requirements.
A court has found that a union official needed to bring his phone onto a worksite to protect the rights of employees he represented, ruling that a meat processing company unlawfully hindered him by refusing entry unless he surrendered it.
