A full Federal Court has reproached a State employment tribunal member for his tardiness in determining appropriate penalties for an underpaying employer, suggesting that had no fine been imposed it might have been spared considering an unremarkable appeal involving "modest" sums.
The CFMMEU has lost its challenge to Federal Court orders requiring liquidators of a labour hire company to distribute $1m that was held in a trust fund for members of the union.
A paramedic sacked for allegedly self-medicating with a pain relief drug while on duty will get another chance to push for reinstatement, with Queensland's Industrial Court upholding his challenge to a decision dismissing his application.
A senior Victorian public sector lawyer who failed to establish that agreement terms had been incorporated into his employment contract has been ordered to pay his employer the $200,000 in costs it sustained through its undertaking to keep him in his job until the finalisation of the case.
A senior FWC member says the tribunal cannot issue interim anti-bullying orders merely because there is a serious question to be tried, while it has made it clear to a worker that such an order is not a tool to prevent her dismissal until her matter is determined.
The AEC will no longer conduct attendance ballots for protected industrial action until the coronavirus crisis is resolved, prompting the FWC to vary multiple union PABO applications in order to delay the close of voting and allow for postal ballots.
The Federal Circuit Court has held that an employer was obliged to dock four hours' pay from workers attending a lunchtime talk on asbestos that ran 45 minutes over time, noting a supervisor who considered it "unremarkable" had no authority to extend the meeting.
The Federal Court has rejected a "novel" contention that the FWC would be invalidly exercising judicial power if it arbitrated a dispute under an agreement an employer inherited after winning a Defence Department tender.
The FWC has moved quickly to endorse coronavirus redeployment measures agreed between the UWU and DHL Supply Chain, enabling employees to maintain their terms and conditions while temporarily working in other industry sectors.