The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has tossed out a “disgruntled” employee's unfair dismissal claim, finding it frivolous and vexatious with no possibility of success after the employee flagged he could not attend the cmn's hearing at the last minute - as predicted by his employer. The FWC heard that IT worker Craig Laurie began a personal ...
‘Volatile' personal relationship at work ‘devastating' for business
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MFP still weak as capital productivity continues to fall
Multi-factor productivity (MFP) failed to rise in the past financial year, despite strong growth in labour productivity. The Productivity Commission considers MFP important as it considers changes in output per unit from combined inputs including labour, materials and capital. The latest ABS report on market sector productivity said MFP fell 0.1% i...
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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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Murray report flags removing super from IR system but not right now
The Murray Financial System Inquiry has recommended enterprise agreements (EAs) should not be able to mandate superannuation funds and the government should consider replacing the default fund selection process with auctions or tenders to improve competition. But the inquiry stopped short of calling for an immediate abolition of the Fair Work Commi...
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NZ Labour looks to adapt to ‘future of work'
The New Zealand Labour Party will confront the changing face of work with a major two-year study to address issues including the digital revolution, job insecurity, self-employment and contract work. Announcing the ‘Future of Work Commission' on December 1 in his first major speech as NZ's new Labor opposition leader, Andrew Little said the c...
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Full Court cautions against ‘good faith' requirements for complaint
The Full Federal Court has cautioned against “too readily” implying any constraint on the employee's right to make a complaint, including that the complaint must be genuine. However, the court said it was unnecessary to resolve the issue after finding primary judge Justice Julie Ann Dodds-Streeton had not erred in dismissing former Ener...
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La Trobe job security clause didn't stop spill'n'fill: Fed Court
The Federal Court has rejected a union claim that La Trobe Uni breached its enterprise agreement (EA) by conducting a spill and fill of some positions, finding an aspirational statement against forced redundancies did not prohibit the practice. On October 9, 2014 La Trobe conducted a major restructure which included terminating 280 employees' emplo...
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Dismissal valid way to deal with ‘unresolvable' office conflict
An employer had a valid reason to sack an employee to resolve an interpersonal workplace conflict, even though the worker may not have been primarily at fault and the co-worker could have been fired instead, a Fair Work Commission full bench has held. Bremick Fasteners sacked Jacqueline Lumley on March 3 after an altercation with co-worker Nikki Co...
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IEU claims employer doctored fixed-term contracts
The Independent Education Union (IEU) has brought a Federal Court civil penalties case against a school for allegedly doctoring its employment contracts to cover up that it hired teachers on fixed term contracts in breach of the award. The IEU Victoria Tasmania branch represents Georgia Butters Cain, a teacher it says worked at the Australian Inter...
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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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Unsworn evidence was unfair to employer: bench
A Fair Work Commission full bench has quashed an unfair dismissal decision because Commissioner John Ryan inappropriately gave a self-represented applicant the option of giving unsworn evidence without discounting its weight due to the absence of cross-examination. The case reinforced that the cmn should warn a witness that giving unsworn evidence ...
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FWC must determine if casual's days off count as ‘service': bench
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) is set to determine whether a casual employee's days of not working were unpaid “authorised absences” that count towards the minimum length of service required for unfair dismissal claims. A full bench - Vice President Adam Hatcher, Deputy President Anne Gooley and Commissioner Leigh Johns - referred the m...
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Success rate on unfair dismissals climbs with new data
Unfair dismissal claims finalised by arbitration have an average 50% success rate, according to new and more accurate data recorded over the past year. The latest quarterly reports for the July to September 2014 quarter showed the Fair Work Commission (FWC) received about 3,668 unfair dismissal claims, which is about the 3,500 average since 2010. T...
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Protected action ‘unusual' immunity from tort: ALRC
The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) has labelled the immunity from tort liability for protected industrial action ‘unusual' and called for submissions on laws like the Fair Work Act which encroach on traditional rights and freedoms. The ALRC issues paper released on December 10 is the first consultation document in its Freedoms Inquir...
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DP World faces strikes and lockouts across the country
DP World will lock out its workforce in Sydney and Melbourne after the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) announced strikes in those cities and Fremantle starting tomorrow (December 11), in moves which will affect operations for up to 32 hours. The strikes come after 10 months of bargaining in response to what DP World says is its “final”...
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CPSU predicts Abetz's dept will vote down first public sector deal
The employment department will begin voting on a proposed enterprise agreement (EA) today (December 10), with the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) predicting an emphatic rejection of the below-inflation pay offer. Employment minister Senator Eric Abetz's own department is the first public sector agency to vote on an offer, with voting to cl...
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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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Protected action ‘unusual' immunity from tort: ALRC
The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) has labelled the immunity from tort liability for protected industrial action ‘unusual' and called for submissions on laws like the Fair Work Act which encroach on traditional rights and freedoms. The ALRC issues paper released on December 10 is the first consultation document in its Freedoms Inquir...
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MD's comment over ‘blokey' trips is bullying
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has said a managing director's “put down” of a senior manager during after-work drinks with colleagues was unreasonable conduct under anti-bullying legislation. However, the cmn found it unnecessary to determine whether the conduct was “at work” after finding there was no future risk of bullyin...
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Refusal to accept pay cut not valid reason for dismissal: FWC
A retail employer's sacking of a long-serving manager because she refused to accept a more than $30k pay cut in her new, lower-level role amounted to unfair dismissal, the Fair Work Commission has held. Angela Johnson had worked for women's clothing company Zehut Pty Ltd trading as Urbrands for 12 years, including in senior management roles. Her em...
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