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The NSW Supreme Court has backed the State government's use of Public Health Orders to make COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for certain categories of workers, dismissing arguments that the directions compromised objectors' "right" to choose what they put in their bodies.

Employers are generally on "solid ground" in suspending or dismissing workers who refuse reasonable directions to be vaccinated to perform their jobs, but face a range of practical difficulties if they take such action, according to Adelaide University Professor of Law, Andrew Stewart.

A recruitment company's former operations manager, who is claiming $20,000 for the hurt and humiliation flowing from her alleged discriminatory sacking due to her pregnancy, has won more time to pursue her claim, while her employer has failed in its bid for costs against her "neophyte" lawyer, after a court accepted that there had been "a comedy of errors" that fell well short of representative error.

The FWC has today launched a consultation process for its new anti-s-xual-harassment jurisdiction, which starts operating from November 11, while it has also published a benchbook on the regime.

The FWC has ordered NSW Trains to reinstate a health and safety representative who told his supervisor to "get f-cked" and said he was trying hard not to punch him in the face, while it has pilloried the employer for adopting a "grossly disproportionate" approach to his outburst after ignoring his concerns.

BHP's announcement that its workforce will have to be vaccinated by the end of January has failed to win support from the miners' union, with a State leader championing the alternative of education and incentives while pointing out that the company is not the direct employer of most of its workers.

The insights gained from the rapid shift to working from home during COVID-19 could lead to the adoption of a "genuine consultation" requirement under the Fair Work Act's "right to request" flexibility that might start "a conversation aimed at reaching a mutually suitable arrangement", according to a new paper by two leading IR academics.

In an "unusual" case against a senior HR officer and an operations manager accused of bullying an area manager who "over-reacted" to a restructure, the FWC says it will close the matter if all agree to a host of recommendations or it will seek more evidence to continue the case.

The FWC has refused to order a worker's general practitioner to hand over medical records as it considers her anti-bullying case, noting that even if the information is relevant, requiring it might have a "harmful impact" on her health and wellbeing.

The UK Labour Party has opened its annual conference by pledging to follow the New Zealand example of introducing "Fair Pay Agreements", as part of a "New Deal" for Britain's 31 million workers.