Fair Work Building & Construction (FWBC) has launched proceedings against a Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union official who allegedly entered a New South Wales work site and falsely said he was Steve Irwin. The Federal Court could penalise him up to $10,200 for wrongly identifying himself. The official, Anthony Kong, and fellow union org...
FWBC acts against Irwin ‘pretender'
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PC calls for IR reform in building sector but rejects ABCC myths
WFD: The Productivity Commission (PC) has dismissed the Coalition and building industry's claim the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) led to a resurgence in productivity in the sector. However, it has backed the restoration of the Coalition's national building code and recommended increased penalties for unlawful industrial con...
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Financial exec keeps $1.6m payout despite sexual harassment claims
WFD: The NSW Appeal Court has rejected a financial services company's bid to overturn a $1.6m damages order for termination over sexual harassment allegations but without a finding of serious misconduct. The court rejected the company's appeal arguments it had subsequently withdrawn the termination or the termination was retrospectively “with...
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Fewer strikes in Dec quarter
WFD: The number of strikes in the final quarter of 2013 has decreased, but they involved almost three times as many workers as the previous quarter and resulted in more days lost. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics ( ABS ) there were 58 industrial disputes in the December quarter 2013, down from 65 in the September quarter. However, t...
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Restrictive no-extra claims clause invalid under Fair Work Act
WFD: The Fair Work Commission has used the Federal Court's recent Toyota decision to rule a blanket no-extra-claims clause is invalid and no obstacle to employer-proposed enterprise agreement variations. Commissioner Tim Lee said Tasmanian electricity provider Aurora Energy's no-extra-claims clause, which prevented all changes including to the no-e...
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Government reopens s457 loophole
WFD: Unions claim the Federal Government has instructed the immigration department not to penalise employers who exceed the number of temporary skilled visa s457 workers they are allowed under their authorised cap. Before July 1, 2013 employers who were authorised to sponsor workers on s457 visas were not subjected to any penalty if they exceeded t...
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Urine testing dealt another blow
WFD: The Fair Work Commission has again found urine testing for drugs to be unjust and unreasonable in light of its intrusion on privacy and improvements in saliva testing. Deputy President Anna Booth based her arbitration decision on “compelling” expert evidence and relied on Senior DP Jonathan Hamberger's latest Endeavour Energy decis...
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Super panellists ejected
WFD: Former ACTU economist Tim Harcourt will join the Fair Work Commission's (FWC) reconstituted default superannuation review panel after President Justice Iain Ross ruled two of its three expert members should not deal with the matter due to potential conflicts of interest. The expert panel was convened on January 6, 2014 for a four-yearly review...
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FWC has burden to determine ‘authenticity' of bargaining in PABO
WFD: In a significant decision that could result in closer scrutiny around protected action ballot orders (PABO), a Fair Work Commission full bench has quashed a Maritime Union of Australia strike authorisation. The bench found the original commissioner had not considered how the union's shifting scope position suggested it was not genuinely trying...
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FW Bill submissions due by June
The Fair Work Amendment Bill 2014 has been referred to the Senate's Education and Employment Legislation Committee, with submissions due by June 5. The Bill introduces changes to individual flexibility arrangements, right of entry, greenfields agreements among other amendments. Labor and The Greens have declared their opposition to the Bill.
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Counsel qualification plays no role in granting leave to appear
A Fair Work Commission (FWC) full bench has found the cmn cannot selectively pick between a party's legal representatives or draw a distinction between barristers and solicitors when granting permission to appear. The issue arose in an unfair dismissal claim by Brett McAuliffe against the Australian Tax Office (ATO) in which the FWC granted leave t...
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Bullying claims close to a hundred
Workplace bullying applications to the Fair Work Commission have climbed to 86, with the majority stemming from management actions, updated figures from the federal industrial umpire show. Workforce associate publication Occupational Health News reported that a week after Commissioner Anna Cribb gave a progress report on the cmn's new bullying juri...
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McDonald banned from sites; union fined $500K
Unprotected action by Joe McDonald and the Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union WA construction and general branch in the past decade has cost the union more than $1.5m with more cases to come, Workforce's investigations suggest. In the latest penalty ruling this week, the Federal Court ordered the union to pay $500,000 compensation to Brookfi...
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No month's grace, says Qantas
WFD: Qantas and the Australian Services Union (ASU) NSW branch have reached agreement no check-in staff at Sydney International terminal will be forced to leave the company before April 14, 2014. The ASU NSW took Qantas to the Fair Work Commission last week, claiming the company failed to consult on its approach to 230 full-time check-in employees ...
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Royal Cmn set up to begin in April
The Royal Commission will hold its first public hearing next month as it announces its counsel assisting will be from construction and commercial backgrounds. Governor General Quentin Bryce yesterday formerly established the cmn headed by former High Court Justice Dyson Heydon and directed it to inquire and report into alleged union corruption, wit...
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ASU members to have say in Labor pre-selection
The Australian Services Union (ASU) NSW branch will allow its members to vote directly for the union's choice of Labor pre-selection candidates in the 2015 state upper house elections, regardless of whether NSW Labor approves such reforms. In a speech to the Fabian Society on Tuesday (March 11) ASU NSW secretary Sally McManus said that could result...
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Lawyer let off on hopeless case
A Fair Work Commission (FWC) full bench has overturned a costs order against a law firm which brought an unfair dismissal case to the wrong jurisdiction after it was shown the firm received external advice to do so. The decision outlined that when discretion to award costs is enlivened because a case is hopeless, the cmn must decide whether the leg...
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Victorian anti-protest Bill passes
WFD: The anti-protest Bill which unions fear will give police extended powers to break up pickets has passed the Victorian parliament unamended. The Summary Offences and Sentencing Amendment Act 2014 allows police to apply for a court order banning people from nominated public places for up to 12 months, and gives increased power to issue orders to...
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High Court parties spar over employment right to wellbeing
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has sought to argue against the implied term of mutual trust and confidence in employment contracts by arguing non-monetary benefits such as wellbeing are not employment rights. CBA was responding to High Court submissions by ex-employee Stephen Barker that argued the implied term of mutual trust and confide...
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Roy Morgan to pay full appeal costs despite stay order win
Roy Morgan's refusal to drop an appeal and its rejection of a settlement offer were unreasonable acts subject to costs because it ignored a Fair Work Commission (FWC) warning its case was weak, a FWC full bench has found. The bench ordered the company to pay full costs after noting it could not rely on a qualified stay order to argue its appeal was...
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