Workers at a now-shuttered immigration detention centre have won retrospective payment of a remote district allowance on accrued annual leave, despite employer arguments that it was tied to time spent at the facility's location.
The big stick handed to the ABCC in the form of personal payment orders against contravening union officials has been whittled further with two Federal Court decisions reinforcing that past records and a clear appreciation of consequences must first be taken into account.
Employers are warning of "massive liability" and instability for all who engage casuals and unions say it could be harder to use labour hire to "drive down costs", after a full Federal Court upheld a finding that a labour hire casual was in fact an employee entitled to annual leave payments.
A Federal Court finding that CFMMEU construction and general division Queensland branch secretary Michael Ravbar engaged in coercion and adverse action may be raised in future proceedings about his fitness to hold an entry permit.
The FWC has criticised an employer for directing a worker to manage her relationship with a "predictably volatile" supervisor, finding she was unfairly dismissed in the wake of a "screaming match" and ordering her reinstatement.
A restaurant that required a chef to work more than 20 unpaid hours a week and summarily sacked him when he sought to pare it back and take leave was "blissfully unaware" of its award obligations, the FWC has found.
The Victorian government plans to intervene for a second time in a lengthy bargaining dispute over a new enterprise agreement covering Esso's offshore oil and gas workers in Bass Strait.
In an instructive case on managing conflicts of interest, the FWC has found a money management company had a valid reason to sack a budget specialist who failed to disclose his casino visit to stop a client and friend from blowing his inheritance, but an HR manager's actions rendered it harsh.
A Federal Court judge has evoked the memory of the BLF's deregistration in the course of handing out maximum fines to the CFMMEU for "deplorable" breaches by a past State branch president, suggesting that any organisation that fails to rein in aberrant behaviour "cannot expect to remain registered in its existing form".
In a significant blow to ABCC attempts to rein in the behaviour of union officials by holding them personally liable for breach fines, the Federal Court has today ruled that an offender's past record must be taken into account before imposing such conditions.
