Unfair to ask HR manager to represent company: FWC; SDA secretary's lengthy tenure extended; Labor pledge to slash government spending on external workers.
The Victorian government has proposed that its new scheme to regulate labour hire workers will not extend to secondments and work experience-type placements.
A tribunal has rejected a former public servant's argument that lingering work-related "mental health problems" treated by his doctor helped explain why he lodged an unfair dismissal claim a year late.
Five migrant fruit pickers at the centre of a $10 million Federal Court claim against a labour hire company and its owners are seeking to be recognised as casuals, alleging their contracts for piecework were invalid and based average take home pay on an unrealistic workload.
Worker blew last chance "in spectacular fashion"; Alcoa mine and refinery workers down tools; Foreign pilots visa designed to drive down salaries: Union; Emergency services commissioner resigns over bullying.
The FWC has described a kennel hand's dismissal as so unfair "even the dogs in the street know" it, putting the labradoodle breeders on notice to take better care of their puppies than they do of the humans they employ.
In an instructive decision on the treatment of post-dismissal medical evidence, an FWC full bench has thrown out the appeal of a prison officer declared fit after being sacked on medical grounds, while again taking a swipe at his union's handling of the matter.
The FWC has confirmed the right of employers in safety-critical industries to dismiss workers whose out-of-hours conduct impairs the safe performance of their duties, in the case of a flight attendant who called in sick during a layover after being hospitalised with a blood-alcohol reading of .205.
In a decision confirming that employers must "expressly" advise workers when their job is at risk and provide them enough time to demonstrate improvement, an FWC full bench has quashed a finding that a bike shop complied with the Small Business Unfair Dismissal Code when sacking one of its mechanics.
In a ruling that builds on the recent "shadow lawyers" decision, an FWC full bench has found that a large company with in-house IR legal expertise does not require approval to engage a law firm to prepare its defence of a self-represented worker's dismissal claim.
