A senior FWC member has decided to forge ahead and determine whether a "deactivated" Uber driver is an employee, rejecting a bid to stay his unfair dismissal claim until the Federal Court tackles the question in a case he is pursuing with the Rideshare Driver Network.
A senior FWC member has in awarding costs against a law firm queried its "irreconcilable" explanations for missing filing deadlines in an unfair dismissal case.
The High Court's Rossato judgment is already having a knock-on effect, with a FWC full bench questioning its effect on Deliveroo's appeal of a finding that a rider was an employee and proposing not to determine it until the High Court decides two more cases.
A Coalition-dominated Senate inquiry has backed the FWC's request to delay implementing proposed extensions to its anti-sexual-harassment jurisdiction, but declined to support Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins' call to include her "positive duty" recommendation in the Morrison Government's Respect at Work legislation.
Apologies and claims that he conducted himself "out of character" have not spared a union official having his entry permit suspended over a confrontation in which he told a site foreman he did "give a f--k" what happened because he was near the end of his career.
The FWC has blocked a large employer's bid to move workers on to higher-paid staff roles as part of a restructure, telling the company the decision will "increase [its] cost benefits".
In a decision highlighting the challenges facing employers attempting to manage stand-downs during the pandemic, the FWC has ordered a global aviation ground services company to compensate a part-time worker after favouring more valued employees.
In a decision stressing the importance of distinguishing between internships, work experience and clerkships at law firms, a FWC senior member has rejected a recent graduate's unfair dismissal claim on the basis he was not an employee.
The FWC has issued anti-bullying orders in a decision that highlights the workplace tensions that build from employees conducting business on their phones.
