A court has fined the CFMEU and two organisers almost $100,000, after finding the union engaged in unlawful coercion and adverse action when it organised a blockade at the $1.6 billion Port of Melbourne expansion project because an employer refused to bargain.
The ABCC is seeking special leave from the High Court to seek to overturn a recent decision that stymied the watchdog's push to prohibit unions from paying fines imposed on officials for unlawful conduct.
Anglo Coal is facing a seven-figure backpayment, after the High Court refused to grant it special leave to appeal a finding that a subsidiary breached its enterprise agreement by failing to pay employees correctly when they cashed-out personal/carer's leave.
The CFMEU and its former construction and general division Queensland branch president David Hanna have been fined more than $37,000 for threatening to continue industrial action against a construction company unless it agreed to a secret deal, with the court finding the union had a boundless disregard for the law.
The Federal Court has awarded a ship's officer $100 in nominal damages for her employer's breach of her employment contract, finding it could not have foreseen that its flawed investigation of allegations she was bullied by her captain would lead her to stop working in the maritime industry altogether.
Victoria's Court of Appeal has awarded a chief information officer more than $477,000 because his employer failed to honour a verbal agreement about his entitlements.
Lawyers for CFMEU construction and general division Victorian branch leaders John Setka and Shaun Reardon have asked the Victorian Supreme Court to quash blackmail charges brought against them over the Boral dispute.
A full Federal Court has found a Catholic employer terminated the employment of a school coordinator who had been charged over indecent assault of a minor, opening the way for him to pursue his unfair dismissal claim in the Fair Work Commission.
A court has found that a driver engaged as a casual under a labour hire arrangement is an employee who is entitled to annual leave payments under the Fair Work Act.
Justice Susan Kiefel is set to be the High Court's first female chief justice on the retirement of the incumbent, Robert French, while Federal Court Justice James Edelman is to join her on the bench.