Union officials can't use their right to enter premises for discussions with members to gather signatures on petitions or "secure a commitment to a particular course of action in the future", the Federal Court has found, ruling in favour of an employer that blocked access for an organiser who sought workers' backing for a majority support determination.
A FWC commissioner has recused himself from hearing a vax-hesitant university worker's dispute after accepting that views he expressed during unsuccessful conciliation raised doubts about his impartiality.
A HR manager facing potential criminal charges has before a FWC bench refused to answer nearly 100 questions seeking to establish whether he lied on the application form for a contentious agreement that provides for employees to work "voluntary" additional hours without penalty rates.
In a significant decision on the nature of work, the FWC has found that the nursing home at the centre of one of Queensland's deadliest COVID-19 outbreaks should have paid employees for the time spent taking rapid antigen tests before the start of their shifts.
In a move that the NTEU warns could have a "chilling effect" on underpayment claims across the economy, the Federal Court has stayed its attempt to claw back millions of dollars on behalf of casual and sessional staff while Monash University pursues a FWC bid to retrospectively vary its agreement.
The FWC has upheld Victoria Police's rejection of a transit officer's flexibility request because it would exacerbate already "bleak" safety issues arising from understaffing in Melbourne's most crime-affected region.
A senior FWC member has described a public transport agency's vaccination policy as "pressur[ing]" workers to "give up [the] fundamental right" to bodily integrity, before ordering it to pay five train drivers sidelined because of their non-compliance.
In a significant ruling on supposed 'cancel culture', a court has found a leading sandstone university and its former deputy vice chancellor breached an agreement's intellectual freedom clause when the institution sacked a lecturer for superimposing a swastika on a posted image of an Israeli flag.
A Federal Court majority has slashed by more than 65% penalties imposed on a government-owned organisation for breaching agreement obligations, finding them "manifestly excessive".
In a detailed examination of a major government department's early response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Court has rejected union claims that a hastily-conceived working from home policy breached existing arrangements and consultation requirements.
