The Fair Work Commission has sought to better delineate the law around so-called constructive dismissals, in a case in which it lambasted a multinational company's HR department for overseeing a process it likened to "entrapment".
In a novel decision on the need to consider alternative duties for incapacitated workers, the FWC has found an agreement clause requiring directions to be reasonable trumped BHP Coal's common law right to refuse to allow a mineworker to perform only part of his job.
The Fair Work Ombudsman has called for ASIC-style powers to ask a court to disqualify "repeat offenders" from running companies and avoiding backpay and penalties through phoenix company activity.
The FWC has observed it is "not necessary" to consider whether representation creates unfairness between parties, as a French company was granted permission to engage a lawyer to defend a self-represented employee's unfair dismissal claim.
A court has elected not to impose a personal payment order against a CFMEU official fined $7500 for organising action that severely disrupted a major construction project, despite finding his actions "nothing short of unconscionable".
Unions have welcomed a South Australia Labor Party promise to introduce 10 days' paid domestic violence leave if it is re-elected on Saturday week, saying they hope it will push the federal government to adopt the approach nationally.
The CFMEU has successfully challenged a conditional permit issued to one of its NSW organisers, with an FWC full bench reinstating a full permit on the basis that undertakings will have the same effect.
A presidential member of the FWC has prodded legislators to revisit "confusing" aspects of the Small Business Fair Dismissal Code in order to deliver on its promise of speeding parties' progress through the unfair dismissal jurisdiction.
An FWC full bench has refused to vary six retail awards to give workers an extra day's pay or a day off when public holidays fall their on non-working days, but has found insufficient evidence to establish an employer claim that it would have cost businesses up to $267 million a year.
