Any possibility of the FWC moving towards the UK employment tribunal's user-pays regime might have been stymied after its highest court found that recently-introduced fees for individuals of up to $2,000 prevented access to justice and were unlawful.
An FWC full bench has quashed an agreement struck with five Sigma Healthcare recruits, finding the NUW had been denied natural justice when the pharmaceuticals giant failed to provide it with its application for approval on the basis that the union had ceased to be a bargaining representative.
While stopping short of categorising a long-time Esso employee who worked overseas as an on-hire worker, an FWC full bench has found that his failure to secure a "substantive" role with the company on return to Australia meant he could not rely on an industry award to protect him from unfair dismissal.
An FWC full bench has granted an employee who mistakenly lodged a general protections application instead of an unfair dismissal claim an extension of time because the Commission should have used its discretion to rectify the mistake.
A full Federal Court has found a ship's officer who quit the maritime industry after a bungled investigation into alleged bullying by her captain is entitled to a greater proportion of her costs, but rejected claims for more than $1.6 million in damages.
The union attempt to quash planned cuts to penalty rates is expected to kick off in the Federal Court next week, but one workplace legal expert believes they face an uphill battle to succeed.
The CFMEU will stage a national day of protest next week as tensions rise in the construction industry over the coming deadline for having code-compliant agreements to avoid being barred from winning Commonwealth-funded contracts.
The Spotless group has avoided paying an 11-week redundancy to a facilities manager it dismissed after nearly seven years, a tribunal finding that the split was an instance of "ordinary and customary turnover of labour".
A tribunal member erred when he concluded that an "ambiguous" laundry allowance that went unclaimed by employees and the union for more than 16 years was not an entitlement under the enterprise agreement, an FWC full bench has found.
