In an early test of Secure Jobs changes that outlaw pay secrecy mandates, a former casual sales assistant at a landmark Melbourne bookshop has begun legal action in the Federal Circuit Court, alleging it no longer offered her shifts after she disclosed a pay rise and backpay to her fellow workers.
The FWC has refused to suspend engineers' industrial action at a Virgin Australia subsidiary while their employer pursues an intractable bargaining declaration, in an early test of the new Secure Jobs provision.
In a decision highlighting the difficulties that can arise from agreement clauses linked to awards and the NES, the FWC has handed back Simplot workers' arbitration rights for casual conversion disputes but removed mention of their entitlement to access permanency after nine months.
A law firm has failed to overturn the "bulk" of a court decision to award a junior solicitor more than $185,000 in compensation and penalties after his sacking for making almost 250 complaints.
A four-member FWC bench failed to properly consider whether an experienced train driver sacked after receiving a two-year community corrections order for high-range drink driving was notified of the reason for his dismissal and given an opportunity to respond, a full Federal Court has found today.
Tugboat operator Svitzer has been ordered to extend a rating's fixed-term contract after the FWC speculated that his senior role at the MUA was the real reason he was the only member of his crew not offered continuing employment.
A FWC member has put in a plug for a "likeable" casual ski instructor to be re-employed, despite rejecting his request for a time extension to challenge his sacking for allegedly competing in an obstacle race while drawing worker's compensation for an injury.
In the latest of a rash of PABO decisions since new Secure Jobs provisions took effect on June 6, the FWC has ruled that an employer's bid to bypass unions and put its agreement to a vote provides exceptional circumstances to warrant using a non-AEC ballot agent.
A pharmacy worker sacked for requesting unpaid domestic violence leave has been awarded more than $17,000 compensation after the FWC rejected the employer's claims that performance issues sparked the dismissal.
The Federal Court is today expected to discontinue a mooted $1 billion class action accusing a now-folded workforce management company of misclassifying Telstra technicians as subcontractors, while Shine Lawyers says the workers cannot access the FEG scheme because of the High Court's Jamsek and Personnel Contracting decisions.
