A Fair Work Commission full bench has upheld the appeal of an unfairly dismissed worker who received just $1,280 compensation because the cmn had calculated he would only have remained employed for eight weeks. The senior bench held the cmn requires “cogent evidence” to establish that an employee dismissed without valid reason would onl...
Full bench raises bar for estimating time left in employment
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Treating doctor advice overrides direction to return to work: FWC
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has found the Australian Tax Office (ATO) unfairly sacked an accountant because its direction for him to return to work after an absence of almost five years due to depression was not reasonable. FWC held ATO's direction was unreasonable because the accountant's treating doctor had advised him his condition would wors...
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Court approves desal industrial spying case settlement
The Federal Court has approved a settlement in a long-running class action brought against Thiess Degremont (TD) over alleged industrial spying at the Wonthaggi desalination site. The settlement does not include monetary compensation but will ensure the private industrial security firm TD allegedly engaged must destroy information gathered about th...
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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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ACTU says car industry backflip too late
The Federal Government has decided to maintain $500m in subsidies to the automotive industry, backflipping on its proposed legislation to remove it. However, unions are saying the move is “too little late”. Industry minister Ian Macfarlane said the Automotive Transformation Scheme (ATS) would remain in place until the end of 2017 when H...
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Enviro workers to consider strikes
The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) has applied for a protected action ballot order (PABO) at the federal environment department . If the PABO is approved, the environment dept's 2,000 full-time staff will consider a range of industrial actions, including work bans and stoppages of up to 24 hours, to begin by mid-April. The move brings the...
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Public service shrinks to smallest size in eight years
The Australian Public Service (APS) has shrunk by a headcount of 14,400 in the 18 months to December 2014, according to employment data released today (March 11). In that time the APS was reduced by 8.6% to 152,600, the smallest it has been since 2006. According to federal employment minister Senator Eric Abetz, the government is on track to meet i...
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Broad APS intrusion into employee private lives questioned
A Fair Work Commission (FWC) senior full bench has cast doubt on a broad interpretation of the Australian Public Service code of conduct that requires employees to behave at “all times” with the highest ethical standards (WF 07/11/2014). However, the bench declined to rule on the matter, saying the case was not an appropriate vehicle to...
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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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PC approach to min wage is skewed: academic
The Productivity Commission (PC) has adopted a misleading approach tothe question of the minimum wage in its workplace relations inquiry and is an inadequate avenue to push through changes, an academic has argued. Australian National University economics research fellow Rob Bray, whose 2013 min wage paper is quoted in the PC issues paper ( WF 31/05...
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Broad APS intrusion into employee private lives questioned
A Fair Work Commission (FWC) senior full bench has cast doubt on a broad interpretation of the Australian Public Service code of conduct that requires employees to behave at “all times” with the highest ethical standards (WF 07/11/2014). However, the bench declined to rule on the matter, saying the case was not an appropriate vehicle to...
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Public service shrinks to smallest size in eight years
The Australian Public Service (APS) has shrunk by a headcount of 14,400 in the 18 months to December 2014, according to employment data released today (March 11). In that time the APS was reduced by 8.6% to 152,600, the smallest it has been since 2006. According to federal employment minister Senator Eric Abetz, the government is on track to meet i...
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International IR Roundup
Dismissal protections reform: Italy Italy has overhauled its unfair dismissal protections to make it easier to hire and fire staff in an attempt to reduce the country's record-high unemployment rate. Parliament approved Democratic Party Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's so-called ‘Jobs Act' in December last year, giving the government a mandate t...
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Uni did not cause psychiatric injury of bullying complainant: court
Curtin University of Technology did not cause the psychiatric injury of a lecturer who developed depression after his dismissal by failing to deal with his bullying claims, the Western Australian Supreme Court has held. The decision highlighted the need to bring breach of contract claims within time, as the lecturer's case was made significantly mo...
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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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Electricity unions biggest NSW ALP donors
Donation disclosures reveal unions representing electrical workers were the biggest donors to the ALP, as the March 28 NSW election shapes up as a referendum on the Baird government's planned privatisation of electricity assets. The disclosures released today (March 12) show the biggest donors to Labor in the period July 1, 2014 to March 1, 2015 we...
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Ex-DP proposes radical IR reforms, blasts FWC for lack of ‘competence'
Parliament should approve modern awards due to the Fair Work Commission members' (FWC) lack of business experience and because the Fair Work Act renders the cmn's decisions “unaccountable”, retired FWC Deputy President Brendan McCarthy has argued. McCarthy made the comments in a submission to the Productivity Commission's workplace rela...
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Ex-DP proposes radical IR reforms, blasts FWC for lack of ‘competence'
WFD: Parliament should approve modern awards due to the Fair Work Commission members' (FWC) lack of business experience and because the Fair Work Act renders the cmn's decisions “unaccountable”, retired FWC Deputy President Brendan McCarthy has argued. McCarthy made the comments in a submission to the Productivity Commission's workplace...
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ACTU says car industry backflip too late
WFD: The Federal Government has decided to maintain $500m in subsidies to the automotive industry, backflipping on its proposed legislation to remove it. However, unions are saying the move is “too little, too late”. Industry minister Ian Macfarlane said the Automotive Transformation Scheme (ATS) would remain in place until the end of 2...
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International IR Roundup
Dismissal protections reform: Italy WFD: Italy has overhauled its unfair dismissal protections to make it easier to hire and fire staff in an attempt to reduce the country's record-high unemployment rate. Parliament approved Democratic Party Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's so-called ‘Jobs Act' in December last year, giving the government a mand...
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