The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has recommended creating an employer duty to accommodate flexible work requests and allowing appeals against rejected requests as part of a suite of measures to protect pregnant women and parents from discrimination. The AHRC ‘Pregnancy and Return to Work' review found 49% of mothers and 27% of fa...
AHRC calls for FW Act changes over redundancies and flexible work
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NSW workers strike over safety rep
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has ordered 1,000 Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) NSW branch members who yesterday walked off the Barangaroo construction site back to work, and banned further action for three months. The union said the action was in response to construction company Lend Lease's "trumped up" allegations "thrown" at ...
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Editorial Team
Editor: David Marin-Guzman, (02) 8587 7682, david.marin-guzman@thomsonreuters.com . Chief Journalist: Paul Karp. Managing Editor: Peter Schwab. Twitter: @WorkforceTR
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Dismissal by agreement can be adverse action
Termination by “mutual agreement” has not stopped an employee from running a successful adverse action claim against his former employer. David Heriot had been absent from work for nine days when height safety company Sayfa Systems became concerned over his heart condition symptoms and “reluctantly” requested he seek alterna...
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Company hit with hefty fine over ‘significant' failure to consult
A large employer that failed to consult with the union about a redundancy has been fined $15,300 in a bid to deter other companies from avoiding the “important and valuable” right to consultation. Federal Circuit Court Judge Michael Jarrett ordered ThyssenKrupp Elevator Australia Pty Ltd to pay 30% of the maximum $51,100 penalty to the ...
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Attorney-General uses TURC to fish for union links
The Attorney-General's department has cited the Heydon Royal Commission as its reason for requiring Commonwealth departments and agencies to disclose information about their dealings with unions for the past ten years, including related allegations of wrongdoing by public servants. The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has branded the move ...
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Three expert panel members mandatory: court
The Full Federal Court has ruled when the Fair Work Commission's expert panels are reconstituted because of a member's unavailability, the panel must include a minimum of three expert members and cannot replace them with ordinary cmn members. The ruling came in the court's reasons released on Friday (July 25) for its June 6 decision that the supera...
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CFMEU complains to police about cmn leaks
The Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) has brought its complaints about alleged leaks from the Heydon Royal Commission to the attention of the Australian Federal Police (AFP). The CFMEU previously raised the issue in cmn hearings after it claimed media reports “betrayed” an apparent knowledge of private cmn hearings and u...
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FWO not using full enforcement arsenal: report
The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) should make more use of compliance notices and on-the-spot fines, a major study into the regulator's enforcement mechanisms concludes. The University of Melbourne Centre for Employment and Labour Relations Law paper reviewed the use of the FWO's enforcement mechanisms from 2006 to 2012. It noted the FWO has made good u...
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DHS threatens to lower pay offer for delay
The Department of Human Services (DHS) has junked its plan for an early vote on a controversial pay deal after the union contested its interpretation. The DHS has warned the delay would force it to revoke its pay offer. The DHS put its proposed enterprise agreement to staff on Thursday (July 24), offering 1.5% pay increases in years one and two and...
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Editorial Team
Editor: David Marin-Guzman, (02) 8587 7682, david.marin-guzman@thomsonreuters.com . Chief Journalist: Paul Karp. Managing Editor: Peter Schwab. Twitter: @WorkforceTR
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Full Court to review entry permit test
A Full Federal Court is set to hear the Maritime Union of Australia's (MUA) challenge to what constitutes a “fit and proper” person in relation to granting right of entry permits. The MUA has appealed a Fair Work Commission decision that refused an entry permit to MUA Western Australia assistant secretary Will Tracey on the grounds he h...
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Unions challenge offshore visa exemption
Two unions have lodged a Federal Court challenge of a ministerial determination which limited the definition of “offshore resources activity” and exempted workers on vessels from obtaining work visas. The Maritime Union of Australian (MUA) and Australian Maritime Officers Union lodged the claim this morning (July 29). It challenged assi...
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Peppercorn costs for ‘uncharitable' BHP Coal
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has granted BHP Coal costs for having to call one extra witness in an unfair dismissal case, despite criticising its application as “unchristian” and “akin to kicking a man when he is down”. On July 5, 2013 BHP Coal Pty Ltd terminated driller Christopher Bradshaw's 33-year employment after he r...
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‘Continuous roster' didn't remove right to holidays off
The Fair Work Commission has ruled a ‘continuous roster' designed to supply workers for 364 days a year could not override their clear right to refuse work on public holidays. The decision reinforced the fact evidence about the intended effect of an enterprise agreement (EA), and even anomalies in the agreement itself, cannot override an unam...
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Editorial Team
Editor: David Marin-Guzman, (02) 8587 7682, david.marin-guzman@thomsonreuters.com . Chief Journalist: Paul Karp. Managing Editor: Peter Schwab. Twitter: @WorkforceTR
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Kathy Jackson gave $50K to ex-husband via slush fund
The Trade Union Royal Commission (TURC) has today granted Health Services Union (HSU) whistleblower Kathy Jackson an adjournment to seek legal representation after she claimed she was being “ambushed” by senior counsel. Shortly before the adjournment, Jackson had admitted she gave $50,000 to her ex-husband Jeff Jackson after transferrin...
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Security companies argue low pay authorisation 'winds back the clock'
United Voice (UV) has argued security officers' reliance on loadings to make up average earnings is grounds for a low-paid authorisation to negotiate a multiple-enterprise agreement. Security companies have countered the move is an attempt to bypass enterprise bargaining. UV sought the authorisation to achieve a pay increase of up to 20% at Secom, ...
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Treasury to consider axing parents on leave in spill'n'fill
The federal treasury department has announced its entire staff will have to reapply for their jobs to cut numbers by 40 - even mothers on maternity leave. A July 14 letter from Treasury secretary Martin Parkinson explained he had “decided that an involuntary redundancy process will involve all Australian Public Service (APS) and executive lev...
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Embassy dismissal claim may be doomed: FWC
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has granted a time extension for an embassy worker's unfair dismissal application, despite noting foreign state immunity may doom it to failure. Domestic worker Maria Paz Mori claimed the Embassy of Peru advised her on October 25, 2013 that her employment was terminated and she would have to return to Peru, despite he...
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