In a decision reinforcing the need for employers to maintain timesheets, a court has more than doubled the restitution a family-run business must make despite questions of credibility about the sponsored couple claiming underpayments.
A looming Federal Court judgment on whether to grant security of costs to employers facing multi-million-dollar casuals class actions could make employment matters much less attractive to litigation funders, according to a law firm that is targeting the black coal mining industry.
Two excavator operators who allegedly belittled trainees with "foul tirades" that left them so shaken one walked off the job have won compensation, the FWC finding their dismissal was procedurally unfair.
The Federal Court has upheld a lawyer's dismissal after he strongly criticised clients of his firm in a newspaper opinion piece, the judge finding his contract "expressly" stipulated both parties could terminate the relationship without cause on three months' notice.
A casual worker has won a second chance to contest his dismissal after a full FWC bench found a tribunal member did not treat him justly when failing to conduct a hearing or conference to consider disputed facts.
The ETU's newly re-elected leadership has reaffirmed its commitment to pursue underpayments to long-term casuals, vowing to conduct a targeted national program of timesheet and wage record inspections to build its case.
The FWC has speculated that the ACCC might have grounds to look into the practices of employment advisor Unfair Dismissals Direct after appraising its role in a late unfair dismissal application accepted out of time.
An employer that summarily dismissed a casual worker who abused and threatened colleagues should have offered her an opportunity to explain behaviour that might hypothetically have been a reaction to the death of a beloved pet, the FWC has found.
A long-serving industrial tribunal member has taken aim at an employer's claim that summarily sacking a worker by text was a "generational thing", describing the method as "unconscionably undignified" while insisting that dismissals should always be conducted face-to-face.
A large employer has for the second time in a year successfully argued that disposition of a matter before the FWC would be best served by it being permitted to engage an external lawyer to argue against a self-represented worker, given its admitted lack of expertise in IR matters.
