Cleaners strike in Parliament bathrooms to support pay claim; Miscarriage not reason enough for an extension of time; Lunching security guard unfairly dismissed; Accountant's sacking fair in "highly unusual" case; High Court to hear unions challenge to offshore visas; and Bechtel clarifies position on leave approval.
The FWC has declined to issue bargaining orders against the MUA for its conduct in negotiations with offshore oil and gas vessel operators, despite finding it misrepresented the employers' position, played "fast and loose with the truth" and behaved in a manner that raised questions about whether it was genuinely trying to make replacement agreements.
A former abattoir worker, who received unpaid entitlements only after FWO intervention, can also seek damages for negligence after a High Court ruling today, but the NSW Court of Appeal will now need to establish who employed him.
The Federal Circuit Court has fined construction company Baulderstone $25,000 for taking adverse action against a worker who resigned his CFMEU membership, along with $7000 in penalties for two HR managers who were carrying out orders and failed to "exercise their choice" to refuse to comply.
Workers on the Gorgon LNG project will begin voting on Wednesday on whether to take industrial action to push head contractor CB&I to offer shorter roster cycles, at the same time as parliamentary inquiries in WA and Queensland have weighed-up whether new regulations are needed for non-residential workforces.
A tram company's payments to a driver it suspended then sacked for texting on the job made up for procedural shortcomings arising from its "hands off" HR practices, the FWC has found.
A full Federal Court has ruled that two housekeepers who were pushed onto Odco-style independent contractor arrangements continued to be employees after the purported conversion, but also found that their employer had not contravened the Fair Work Act's sham contracting provisions.
The Fair Work Ombudsman has found links between the former Victorian Coalition Government's budget cuts and public sector employment practices that could have breached the Fair Work Act.
