Interpretation of agreements page 1 of 30

292 articles are classified in All Articles > Agreements and bargaining > Interpretation of agreements


WFH direction for harassment accused breaches deal: FWC

The FWC has acknowledged there is a "high bar" to overturning management decisions but ultimately found that Ambulance Victoria breached its agreement when it directed a paramedic to perform alternative duties from home while it investigated a colleague's s-xual harassment claims against him.

Firies entitled to compensation for additional hours: Bench

A FWC full bench has hosed down a commissioner's allegation that a failure to provide a worker 14 hours of "leisure time" bordered on "wage theft", but has upheld his finding that the worker should have received the additional leave.

Academic's 'cancel culture' win overturned by full court

Sydney University will not have to reinstate a lecturer sacked five years ago for superimposing a swastika on an image of an Israeli flag, after a full Federal Court majority found he could not prove that his "incendiary" conduct fell under intellectual freedom protections.

Agreement did not make work "voluntary": Court

The MUA has failed to convince a Federal Court judge that stevedores are owed for days lost through strikes because their agreement supposedly guaranteed 30 hours a week pay once they reached an annual threshold, whether they worked or not.

HR team "should have known better": FWC bench

A FWC full bench has slammed a public health provider's HR team for its "inappropriate" response to queries about late payment of 'nauseous work' and education allowances for an estimated 220 employees, concluding that the delay amounted to an underpayment capable of attracting a penalty.

Employee ineligible for second PPL period: FWC

The FWC has found a worker ineligible for paid parental leave for her second child because she only returned to work for six and a half months before the second period of intended leave, rather than the 12 months that her enterprise agreement required.


"Well-intentioned" department fined over 2016 teacher sacking

A former public school teacher has been awarded $10,500 in penalties after pursuing the ACT's education department through the courts for more than seven years over allegations it unlawfully dismissed her, breaching its agreement's job security terms.

FWC member sharpens "shiftworker" definition

A senior FWC member has delved into arbitral history to offer his own definition of a 'seven day shiftworker' after expressing frustration that there is no "simple" or "unambiguous" description of the term in the many awards it is employed.

Bench confirms "fetters" on employer's workforce

Svitzer has failed to convince a FWC full bench that it has an "unfettered" right to choose which category its employees fall into regardless of operating procedures at five ports.