IR Minister Michaelia Cash will raise with FWC President Iain Ross a LinkedIn post by maverick Deputy President Lyndall Dean that endorses criticism of Australia's "Chinese-style totalitarian" health response to COVID-19, she told a Senate Estimates hearing this morning.
Victoria's Supreme Court is this morning livestreaming a hearing into a major challenge to mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations, with more than 100 health, construction and education workers and others arguing it breaches the State's Human Rights Charter.
COVID-19 drove the FWC to conduct almost 70% of its proceedings remotely in 2020-21 and to convene a working group with similar institutions to advance virtual proceedings and develop a justice-friendly version of Microsoft Teams, according to the umpire's annual report, which also notes a further improvement in agreement approval times.
Two of Australia's largest employers, retailers Woolworths and Coles, have today announced mandatory vaccination policies that will be rolled out in coming months.
A Supreme Court judge has slapped down a FWC presidential member's "clarion call" for Australians to "vigorously" reject the notion of mandatory COVID-19 jabs, questioning her assertions about the efficacy of vaccines and declaring it is not her role to challenge the validity or appropriateness of public health orders.
The NSW Supreme Court has backed the State government's use of Public Health Orders to make COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for certain categories of workers, dismissing arguments that the directions compromised objectors' "right" to choose what they put in their bodies.
Employers are generally on "solid ground" in suspending or dismissing workers who refuse reasonable directions to be vaccinated to perform their jobs, but face a range of practical difficulties if they take such action, according to Adelaide University Professor of Law, Andrew Stewart.
Australia had less need than other countries to turn to legislation to provide short-term workplace flexibility in response to COVID-19 because of "swift" and "bold" yet self-restrained interventions by the FWC, according to new research.
BHP's announcement that its workforce will have to be vaccinated by the end of January has failed to win support from the miners' union, with a State leader championing the alternative of education and incentives while pointing out that the company is not the direct employer of most of its workers.
The insights gained from the rapid shift to working from home during COVID-19 could lead to the adoption of a "genuine consultation" requirement under the Fair Work Act's "right to request" flexibility that might start "a conversation aimed at reaching a mutually suitable arrangement", according to a new paper by two leading IR academics.
