A full Federal Court has upheld findings that Qantas and Jetstar had no reasonable choice but to stand down hundreds of engineers due to coronavirus-driven events outside their control, but one member of the bench has warned that an incorrect interpretation of "stoppage of work" has been allowed to stand.
Victoria's Andrews Labor Government is calling for an increase of at least the CPI - currently 3.5% - to the federal minimum wage and all modern award rates on the basis that consumer price inflation movements mean anything less would be a pay cut.
A large employer organisation has called for the FWC to award minimum pay rises of 2.5% to 3% to help maintain living standards amid rising inflation, albeit with pay rises delayed for industries hardest hit by the pandemic.
The FWC has ordered Qantas to reinstate a trainer accused of inappropriately staring at a female employee's breasts during a "distinguishably lewd" safety demonstration, while taking aim at a "ludicrous" video it used to demonstrate s-xual harassment.
A child protection public servant who claimed on Facebook that the military would remove kids from unvaccinated parents and depicted the former NSW premier as Hitler has won compensation after a tribunal found circumstances rendered her dismissal harsh.
In a thinly-veiled shot at a tribunal colleague who used her position to criticise vaccine mandates, a senior FWC member has emphasised that it is not for the Commission to undermine the law by entertaining parties' "alternative policy preferences".
The FWC has given an energy company until tomorrow to reinstate a Queensland-based FIFO worker who proved unable to return to WA in time for his roster at the Montara offshore oilfield during the McGowan Government's rapidly-changing COVID-19 restrictions.
A senior FWC member has laid out the tribunal's arsenal for dealing with those who try to coerce or engage in disorderly or vexatious conduct after a worker accused his employer's lawyer of perjury, deception and having unclean hands in connection with "dirty deeds for the dark overlords".
As Telstra becomes the latest to face a class action on behalf of employees refusing to comply with COVID-19 vaccination policies, more than a 100 mainly healthcare, education and construction workers are discontinuing their challenge to Victoria's vaccine mandate.
The ABS has confirmed COVID-19-driven absences of quadruple the normal level in January and almost double last month, when unemployment fell to a record-equalling 4%.
