Editor: David Marin-Guzman, (02) 8587 7682, david.marin-guzman@thomsonreuters.com . Chief Journalist: Paul Karp. Managing Editor: Peter Schwab. Twitter: @WorkforceTR
Editorial Team
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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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Happy customer from FWC anti-bullying regime
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has revoked its first anti-bullying order after the applicant reported there was now “negligible” conflict with her male colleague following the “very positive” intervention of the cmn. Senior Deputy President Lea Drake's March 21 order required the accused employee to complete any exercises at...
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Dodging conciliation can lead to costs: court
The Federal Circuit Court (FCC) has held that respondents failing to attend Fair Work Commission (FWC) conciliation without reasonable excuse can lead to an indemnity cost order in a court for a related application. However, the judge used her discretion not to make a costs order after noting the amount was more than covered by substantial penaltie...
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Post supervisor sacked for porn misses out on reinstatement
One of the Australia Post trio unfairly dismissed for sending porn via work emails has lost his bid for reinstatement because he was a supervisor and it had been four years since he was sacked. The Fair Work Commission full bench - President Justice Iain Ross, Deputy President John Kovacic and Commissioner Michelle Bissett - accepted the passing of...
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Asmar re-elected with 92% vote
Diana Asmar has been convincingly re-elected secretary of the Health Services Union Victoria No1 branch (HSU). Asmar headed the only team ticket contesting the election and beat a field of 23 individual candidates. She won 3,113 of the 3,354 formal votes cast, trouncing her opposition with her nearest opponent Bernadette Gray receiving just 165 vot...
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CFMEU Vic picket was not work ban: Federal Court
The Federal Court has rejected a Fair Work Building and Construction (FWBC) suit against the Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) Victoria for alleged unlawful industrial action, finding a picket of a Grocon site was not a work ban. In the first case of its type since 1999, Justice Christopher Jessup found a picket is not a ban, limita...
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Post supervisor sacked for porn misses out on reinstatement
WFD: One of the Australia Post trio unfairly dismissed for sending porn via work emails has lost his bid for reinstatement because he was a supervisor and it had been four years since he was sacked. The Fair Work Commission full bench - President Justice Iain Ross, Deputy President John Kovacic and Commissioner Michelle Bissett - accepted the passi...
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Thomson fined, avoids jail
WFD: Former Health Services Union (HSU) national secretary Craig Thomson has been fined $25k after being convicted of 13 charges of theft on Monday (December 15). Thomson was acquitted of the rest of the charges including all those of obtaining a financial advantage by deception. On Monday, Victorian County Court Judge Carolyn Douglas found Thomson...
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Award knowledge necessary to prove liability for underpayments
WFD: The Federal Court has raised the bar for proving accessorial liability for underpayments by finding the prosecutor must show that a person involved in a contravention knew an award applied that prescribed minimum rates and that the workers were paid below them. Justice Richard White made the ruling in finding that a “loquacious” di...
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FWC sticks by reinstatement for nurse who used force
WFD: The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has re-made an order for reinstatement that restricted where a nurse could work, despite a full bench quashing the order because parties had not been heard on the matter. On May 23, Commissioner Michelle Bissett reinstated Samantha Jane Bolden, a nurse sacked by Lyndoch Living Inc for “unreasonable use of f...
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DP World takes MUA lockout dispute to Fair Work Cmn
WFD: DP World has taken its enterprise bargaining dispute with the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) this week, as strikes and lockouts escalate across the country. The MUA has said it will cooperate with conciliation talks on Monday (Dec 15) but would prefer bargaining to continue without FWC intervention. On Wedn...
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FWC finds no adverse action in first full bench arbitration
WFD: A senior Fair Work Commission (FWC) full bench has found a car dealership did not commit adverse action by retrenching a worker receiving workers' compensation, despite it raising the issue shortly before informing him about his possible redundancy. The case was the cmn's first adverse action arbitration where both parties were represented, an...
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Franchise adviser guilty of adverse action over union recruiting
WFD: The Federal Court has held a child care franchisee took unlawful adverse action when it fired a union delegate for recruiting members by seizing on a staff member's concerns over the recruiting and exaggerating them into allegations of bullying and harassment. The court held the franchise head was also liable because he had advised the franchi...
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‘My wife did it' not unreasonable claim in sex email scandal
WFD: A teacher sacked for allegedly sending sexual emails to a student and then claiming his wife wrote them was not making an unfair dismissal claim vexatiously or without reasonable cause, the Fair Work Commission has found. Muhammad Khan was a teacher at the Australian Islamic College of Sydney when the college accused him of serious misconduct ...
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MUA gets slap on the wrist for strike that cost BHP millions
WFD: A Federal Court judge has ordered the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) to pay a relatively “trifling” $30k in penalties for unlawful industrial action at Port Hedland that cost BHP Billiton at least $3m. The union also agreed to a six-year restraint on taking unprotected industrial action in relation to Port Hedland, with payment ...
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Adviser taking pay rise jettisoned right to commission
WFD: The Federal Circuit Court (FCC) has held that by taking a pay rise a property adviser agreed to terms of a new contract which relinquished her rights to be paid commissions after termination. That was despite the adviser claiming she never saw or signed the new contract. Isabel Tiago received a letter of offer from John Hopkins Property Pty Lt...
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Court lets ex director cry poor, pay smaller penalty instalments
WFD: The Federal Circuit Court has reduced the monthly penalty instalments paid by a director of a company who underpaid its workers, because his protracted unemployment left him too poor to pay them back. On March 25, 2013 the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) brought proceedings against Ozone Manufacturing Pty Ltd and its sole director Simon Forbes Oke a...
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FWC tests High Court-like system for appeals
WFD: In a bid to reduce appeal costs and in response to large numbers of refused appeals, the Fair Work Commission is implementing a pilot program that will determine whether to grant permission to appeal. The pilot program for 2015 will operate similarly to the High Court's special leave application process in that appeal applications will all be ...
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Govt cuts employer and employee peak bodies' funding in MYEFO
WFD: The Federal Government has announced it will cut the funding of peak employer and employee bodies in its Mid Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO). Treasurer Joe Hockey and finance minister Mathias Cormann released the MYEFO at press time on December 15. It revealed the govt would save $1.4m over two years by ceasing grants to non-governmen...
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