Maurice Blackburn's head of employment and industrial law, Josh Bornstein, says damages for discrimination and harassment "remain persistently low" but he expects an upwards trajectory as their impact has been "laid bare" and expectations are now clearer.
The Nobel Prize for economic sciences has been awarded to a Harvard professor who has a penchant for historical detective work, digging into gender differences in labour markets that stretch back to the eighteenth century.
The NTEU is calling for urgent change, after its latest survey found that "s-xual harassment, s-xism, and gender-based bias in tertiary education workplaces continues to be largely ignored and as a result remains firmly entrenched in our universities".
Employers can comply with the new "positive duty" to eliminate sexual harassment and sex discrimination by fostering a respectful culture, ensuring workers have avenues to report incidents, and taking a "risk-based" approach to prevention, according to Human Rights Commission guidance.
A judge has thrown out a Bing Lee worker's race and sex discrimination case, saying it demonstrates "the perils of litigating hurt feelings", after she embellished events "which stem predominantly from unremarkable, collegiate 'small talk', and petty workplace disagreements to cast them in a more nefarious light".
The Federal Court has found that an aged care home favoured its Filipino workers over a Chinese nurse, and took adverse action against her when it summarily dismissing her because she made complaints about other employees.
A UK tribunal has found that a male manager harassed a male worker by touching him inappropriately and suggestively singing a song about propositioning someone for s-x.
The FSU is urging members at NAB to accept a revised "benchmark" agreement offer that will lift their pay by as much as 17.5% and boost the ability to work from home, but the union says the improvements are not enough for it to call off Federal Court action over excessive hours.
The FWC has found a worker's false reports about his colleagues created "psychosocial safety" risks and provided a valid reason for Virgin Australia to dismiss him.
Resources giant Santos has been ordered to pay $65,000 to a worker sacked for telling a contractor to "take a sickie" during a strike, the FWC finding the dismissal harsh after weighing his long and unblemished career.
