In a case involving one lawyer accusing another of being "either breathtakingly stupid or complicit in the ongoing fraud", a Federal Court judge has today refused to throw out an adverse action case brought by a storeperson sacked for refusing to wear a mask.
The FWC in upholding the sacking of a worker who ran late every day for nearly four years and kept failing to use its bundy system has also identified her fake vaccination certificate and recommended referring her alleged offence to authorities.
A leading labour economist has scotched suggestions that Australia has experienced a US-style "great resignation", explaining last year's higher job quit rate as a "catch-up".
The NT is planning to impose a positive duty on employers to eliminate discrimination, sexual harassment and victimisation, while it also intends to expunge an exemption that permits religious schools to discriminate against LGBTIQ+ teachers.
The ACTU has called for employers to "step up" ahead of the forecast peak in COVID-19 numbers by providing leave at full pay for workers who need to isolate or quarantine and distributing free rapid antigen tests to all employees.
The FWC has tightened its benchmarks for finalising cases, with 50% to be completed within eight weeks (down from 13 weeks) and 90% within 16 weeks (down from 26 weeks).
Just a month after declaring its intention to delete "Schedule X" unpaid pandemic leave provisions, the recent COVID-19 resurgence has spurred the FWC to extend their operation in a handful of health and care awards, coinciding with the Federal Government reviving the pandemic leave disaster payments.
The bid by Qantas to overturn a Federal Court ruling that it took unlawful adverse action against its former ground crew employees argues that some of the Fair Work Act's protected workplace rights are "time bound".
The Federal Court has this afternoon thrown out the latest challenge to COVID-19 public health orders, observing that whatever else the applicant's case lacked, it did not lack ambition.