The Victorian Supreme Court has thrown out an interlocutory bid to quash State Chief Medical Officer Brett Sutton's public health orders that mandate workplace vaccinations and to stop him issuing further orders.
The Liberal chair of a Federal Parliamentary inquiry into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the workplace and the FWC has billed it as the "nation's only Inquiry into vaccine mandates".
The NSW Supreme Court has rejected another challenge to the State's powers to mandate COVID-19 vaccination for categories of workers, ruling against a senior ambulance officer and religion-based "conscientious objector" to inoculation.
The FWC will hear the CFMMEU's challenge to BHP's mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy later this month after deciding the matter is significant enough to invite IR Minister Michaelia Cash, the ACTU and peak employer bodies to intervene.
The Federal Court has rejected an unregistered union's bid for an interlocutory injunction to halt disciplinary action against Victorian public hospital nurses who allegedly lawfully exercised workplace rights to seek consultation under OHS laws on their employer's mandatory vaccination policy.
The Fair Work Ombudsman increased its use of compliance notices by 113% in 2020-21, as it sought to quickly rectify underpayments instead of taking action in the courts, while it has nevertheless ramped up its legal action by more than 40% and set up a dedicated branch to pursue corporate misconduct.
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.
The Public Service Association of NSW has lodged a dispute with the State IRC after the Perrottet Government announced a scheme under which 4500 public sector employees based in the regions will be offered five day's special paid leave if they sign up to help farmers bring in an expected record harvest.
Australia had less need than other countries to turn to legislation to provide short-term workplace flexibility in response to COVID-19 because of "swift" and "bold" yet self-restrained interventions by the FWC, according to new research.
