A Victorian government youth justice worker sacked for not having further COVID-19 vaccination shots after reacting adversely to his first dose has won compensation, the FWC finding the department should have explored redeployment and reasonable adjustments.
The FWC has resisted speculating about whether an unvaccinated FIFO worker lost his job for refusing to "steal" a competitor's new product from a BHP mine site, but has nevertheless ordered his former employer to pay compensation after finding he could have been redeployed to its Perth workshop.
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.
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.
The High Court is poised to consider two significant IR matters next week, beginning with NSW unions' bid to overturn a State law restricting election campaign spending, followed by Qantas seeking special leave to challenge a finding that the airline unlawfully shunned a TWU in-house tender when it outsourced the work of 2000 ground-handlers.
The FWC has found that a worker sacked by the Ubuntu Church for obtaining a COVID-19 vaccination is an employee, clearing the way for her to pursue an unfair dismissal claim.
The FWC has endorsed the consultation process Woolworths used before it rolled-out a group-wide COVID-19 vaccination policy, rejecting a "most unusual" unfair dismissal case in which a worker's social media sprays clashed with his claims that the company left him in the dark.
A senior FWC member has refused to recuse himself for addressing a worker's representative as "mister" in an unfair dismissal case that argued an employer should have permitted an unvaccinated employee to keep working from home during COVID-19 restrictions instead of sacking her.
The FWC has tossed out an unfair dismissal claim from a government lawyer responsible for overseeing safe workplaces, finding he fully understood the seriousness of "wilfully and persistently" refusing to confirm his COVID-19 vaccination status.
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.