Legal page 311 of 565

Leading employment law academics have urged a WA inquiry to consider a growing body of evidence that wage theft is "not so much an anomaly, as a norm", while the AiG says that characterising under-payments as stealing is misleading.

The Federal Circuit Court has ordered indemnity costs against two casual employees who refused offers to settle their adverse action and award breach cases for $10,000 and maintained their demands for $95,000 payouts.

The FWC has used new legislation permitting it to overlook minor technical or procedural errors in agreements to endorse an enterprise deal with a bargaining notice that failed to comply with the Act's pre-approval requirements.

The AFP told two senior Coalition ministers that providing witness statements would "significantly assist" its investigation into media leaks about pending raids on the AWU in 2017.

One of Australia's largest employers has convinced the FWC that it should have access to external legal representation to defend its dismissal of a self-represented employee accused of stealing $400, because its in-house legal and HR personnel lack expertise in IR advocacy.

The private operator of Sydney's newest rail line has agreed to continue paying an RTBU delegate pending an expedited trial in July into allegations that it sacked him because he helped prepare for a majority support determination application, after the Federal Court today found serious questions to be tried.

James Cook University is fighting back against a Federal Circuit Court finding that it unlawfully sacked an academic who criticised prominent climate research, while the NTEU has welcomed a finding that the institution's code of conduct is "subordinate" to an intellectual freedom clause in its agreement.

The FWC has rejected a claim that a chemist operator's HR chief and two managers bullied a pharmacist by failing to roster enough support staff to assist him on Saturday shifts.

A full Federal Court has upheld a finding that agreement-sanctioned union stopwork meetings can be freely used to delay and disrupt business as part of a campaign strategy, but has increased fines for the CFMMEU's coercion of head contractor Hutchison by almost 30%.

A dispute between Macquarie Bank and 15 former employees who allege they were underpaid more than $2.6 million looks destined for a full hearing after the Federal Circuit Court rebuffed the parties' request for mediation by a judge.