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.
A RTBU delegate dismissed after managers found him "impossible" to deal with has been ordered to pay his employer's costs of defending his unsuccessful adverse action case, in which a judge found he unreasonably rejected settlement offers despite clear evidence he would never be reinstated.
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 thrown out a request from an ambulance paramedic sacked for refusing the influenza vaccination to refer purported questions of law to the Federal Court.
Qantas has struck enterprise agreements covering about 450 regional pilots at Sunstate and Eastern, the first to be negotiated since it announced a two-year wage freeze in May as part of its COVID-19 recovery plan.
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 UWU has welcomed a new agreement that pays a 10% increase over three years to about 3000 Star Sydney casino workers and boosts annual leave to five weeks.
A WA housing officer of Mauritian descent has had her discrimination case thrown out after a tribunal held that a colleague accused of calling her a "black sheep" would have been using the the expression in its "colloquial sense" if it was said at all.