Candidate nominations for the Health Services Union NSW election will open on Tuesday (July 22), with the election to be held across September. Incumbent secretary Gerard Hayes has confirmed to Workforce Daily he will run. Potential challenger Katrina Hart has also indicated to Workforce she will run, on an “anti bullying and discrimination...
HSU NSW to go to polls in Sept
↧
↧
Sacking over sex convo justified, despite unclear ‘fatherly' warnings
Grollo company Equiset Construction Australia was justified in sacking an employee for three separate incidents of sexually harassment in less than six months, despite evidence some of its warnings were delivered as “fatherly advice” and unclear. The Fair Work Commission (FWC) heard Michael Painter was sacked after less than a year with...
↧
Editorial Team
Editor: David Marin-Guzman, (02) 8587 7682, david.marin-guzman@thomsonreuters.com . Chief Journalist: Paul Karp. Journalist: Steve Andrew. Managing Editor: Peter Schwab. Twitter: @WorkforceTR
↧
Ruling limits investigations' legal cloak in adverse action cases
A Federal Circuit Court judge has held an employer cannot rely on legal privilege to withhold its law firm's investigation report into an employee's action if that report goes to its state of mind and the employer is relying on its state of mind to defend an adverse action claim. Judge Dominica Whelan's decision would appear to apply to most defenc...
↧
Strikes don't make employees protected species: BHP
WFD: If an employer can't punish an employee on strike for holding a ‘scab' sign then adverse action provisions could provide a shield to all manner of misconduct - even racist speech - according to BHP submissions in a High Court case. The Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) has launched a High Court appeal of the Full Federal ...
↧
↧
FWC allows CFMEU adverse action claim for 60 workers
WFD: The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has ruled a single adverse action claim relating to dismissal can be made on behalf of multiple employees, upholding a broad interpretation of the provision. Deputy President Ingrid Asbury reached her conclusion in rejecting Anglo Coal (Dawson Services)'s objection to a Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (...
↧
Motley crew pull-off offshore visa mutiny
WFD: Government regulation allowing foreign workers on offshore oil and gas ships to work on a visa undercutting Australian minimum conditions has been disallowed by a combination of the Greens, Labor, and five crossbenchers including the three Palmer United Party (PUP) senators. Greens Senator Penny Wright moved the motion disallowing the Migratio...
↧
Focus turns to campaigning as young blood leads Vic Trades Hall
WFD: Leadership at Victoria Trades Hall Council (VTHC) is changing with industrial and campaigns officer Luke Hilakari set to take over from secretary Brian Boyd next week. Hilakari will become acting secretary on Monday (July 21), and formally assume the secretary role in November. Hilakari is aged 33, making him one of the youngest people to head...
↧
Greens and Labor try to close Fair Work loophole for offshore industry
WFD: The Greens moved a Senate disallowance motion on July 16 with Labor support to prevent the use of a visa category that allows foreign crews to be paid below Australian minimum rates on ships in the offshore oil and gas industry. In 2013, the Labor government passed the Migration Amendment (Offshore Resources Activity) Activity (ORA) Act which ...
↧
↧
Sex harassment sacking justified, despite unclear ‘fatherly' warnings
WFD: Grollo company Equiset Construction Australia was justified in sacking an employee for three separate incidents of sexually harassment in less than six months, despite evidence some of its warnings were delivered as “fatherly advice” and unclear. The Fair Work Commission (FWC) heard assistant contracts administrator Michael Painter...
↧
Sack for smoking okay for small biz
WFD: The Fair Work Commission has rejected the unfair dismissal application of a worker sacked for smoking in the workplace because he had admitted smoking when confronted by his employer. Deputy President Val Gostencnik's decision demonstrated that a small business employer's reasonable belief in its right to summarily dismiss is sufficient, even ...
↧
NSW Govt disobeys FWC orders
WFD: A Federal Court judge has said a NSW Government party appears to have deliberately disobeyed a Fair Work Commission (FWC) order that it reinstate one of its employees after the cmn found her position was not genuinely redundant, which would be a serious offence. TAFE NSW had been seeking a stay of Commissioner Donna McKenna's reinstatement ord...
↧
FW Act must make way for building codes: PC report
WFD: The Fair Work Act (FW Act) may have to be amended to allow building codes which regulate enterprise agreement (EA) content without falling foul of adverse action provisions, according to a Productivity Commission (PC) infrastructure report. The final PC Public Infrastructure Inquiry Report was released on July 14. On IR, it largely repeats its...
↧
↧
Ruling limits investigations' legal cloak in adverse action cases
WFD: A Federal Circuit Court judge has held an employer cannot rely on legal privilege to withhold its law firm's investigation report into an employee's action if that report goes to its state of mind and the employer is relying on its state of mind to defend an adverse action claim. Judge Dominica Whelan's decision would appear to apply to most d...
↧
Refusal to employ needs vacancy
WFD: The Federal Court has thrown out a delivery driver's appeal in a long-running adverse action saga. The court found Australian Postal Corporation (Post) could not have refused to re-employ the driver because of his previous legal action against it since no vacancy existed for him to fill. The case highlighted that a vacancy is a pre-requisite i...
↧
No interim restraint on dentist
WFD: The Victorian Supreme Court has refused to grant an interim injunction restraining an independent contractor from setting up her own dental practice because the contractor denied she had orally agreed to the restraints. The case reinforced the general presumptions against allowing restraints of trade in the employment context and at the interl...
↧
Jackson at risk of default judgment
The Federal Court has blasted former Health Services Union (HSU) national secretary Kathy Jackson for delaying proceedings and warned her to defend all aspects of the union's claim or risk automatic judgment against her in a part of the claim worth $400k.The HSU's counsel Mark Irving told a Federal Court hearing on Friday (July 18) Jackson had not ...
↧
↧
Diary
Fair Work Commission lecture series: July 23, Brisbane. Griffiths University Professor David Peetz on productivity and IR. More info here . CELRL Labour Law Seminar: July 23, Melbourne. University of Kent Professor Judy Fudge speaks on ‘Feminist Reflections on the Scope of Labour Law: Domestic Work, Social Reproduction, and Jurisdiction'. Mor...
↧
Govt reopens offshore visa loophole
The Federal Government has reopened a loophole allowing foreigners on vessels supporting the offshore resources industry to work without Australian pay and conditions, despite a successful Senate motion disallowing the Maritime Crew Visa (MCV). On Wednesday (July 16) Labor, the Greens, the Palmer United Party, Democratic Labour Party Senator John M...
↧
Editorial Team
Editor: David Marin-Guzman, (02) 8587 7682, david.marin-guzman@thomsonreuters.com. Chief Journalist: Paul Karp. Journalist: Steve Andrew. Managing Editor: Peter Schwab. Product code: 314021719235. Twitter: @WorkforceTR
↧
More Pages to Explore .....
