The Federal Court has rejected an employee's unlawful adverse action claim based on bullying by his manager and termination of his workers' compensation payments because the actions were not motivated by exercise of a workplace right. The lengthy judgment involved findings that refusal to do a job based on a belief it involved illegality was not a ...
Fallout from bullying allegation was not adverse action: court
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No costs for union's ‘gaming' of protected action provisions
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has rejected an employer's attempt to have a union pay costs because it didn't withdraw an invalid notice of industrial action until after the employer had lodged a s418 stop order. Commissioner Bruce Williams held the claim did not come under the Fair Work Act exemptions to its costs shield. However, the cmr criticis...
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NSW Labor to boost whistleblower and surveillance protection
The NSW Labor opposition has announced plans to extend whistleblower protections to private sector employees and to improve oversight of employers' surveillance of employees. The policy released on Monday (March 16) stated a Labor government would “recast” whistleblower laws “to provide effective protection for all whistleblowers,...
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Full Court upholds FWC backing of ‘zero tolerance' drug policies
A Full Federal Court has knocked back a challenge of a Fair Work Commission (FWC) ruling that held lack of actual impairment was not relevant to dismissals for deliberate disobedience of employer's drug and alcohol policies. The ruling by Justice Michael Buchanan - and agreed to by Chief Justice James Allsop and Justice Anthony Siopis - maintained ...
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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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Give FWC power to break deadlocks: ACTU
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has unveiled its wish-list for the Productivity Commission review of workplace laws, including a mechanism for compulsory arbitration to resolve bargaining deadlocks. The demands were revealed today (March 17) in a statement accompanying ACTU president Ged Kearney's contribution to a National Press Club...
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Govt promises 457 visa crackdown
The Federal Government has promised a crackdown on rorting of skilled sub-class 457 visas but supported watering down the English language and income threshold requirements to get one. Assistant immigration minister Senator Michaelia Cash announced the decisions today (March 18) in the govt's response to an independent review of the 457 visa system...
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Vic move-on law repeal passes
The Victorian Legislative Council has passed Labor's bill to repeal the police's extended move-on powers, which covered workplace protests and pickets in industrial disputes. The Summary Offences Amendment (Move-On Laws) Bill 2015 reverses the Napthine govt's March 2014 amendments expanding the grounds on which the police could order people to move...
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Year-old incident reason for adverse action not workplace right
A worker was fired because she had assaulted a work colleague one year earlier -not because she refused to work overtime with that worker closer to the time of her dismissal, the Federal Circuit Court has found. Sue Anderson had sought orders against Detmold Packaging Pty Ltd for adverse action, claiming she was sacked for exercising her workplace ...
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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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Odco-style arrangements a sham but FWO still loses: Full Court
The Full Federal Court has held an employer's misrepresentation to its employees about converting them to sham contracting arrangements via a labour hire party was not actionable under the Fair Work Act as argued by the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO). That was despite the court finding the labour hire party was not the new employer as represented and wa...
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FWC reinstates ‘lazy' forger
The Fair Work Commission has ordered the reinstatement of a caseworker who forged 13 signatures to close client files, finding the misconduct did not harm his employer's reputation and was merely “lazy”. Senior Deputy President Peter Richards held the worker's misconduct - and even his claims the employer condoned lying to win work - di...
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One-minute late does not justify strike pay deduction
Private prison operator G4S has promised to backpay its prison guards after it lost a test case that it could not dock a worker four hours' pay on grounds of unprotected industrial action for showing up to a shift one minute late. Community Public Sector Union delegate Antoun Raphael took part in an 8:15am two-hour protected stoppage on July 10 dur...
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Criticism not adverse action but cat allergy complaint a workplace right
The Federal Court has rejected the adverse action claim of a nurse whose employment was terminated after making a workers' compensation claim for her cat allergy, finding the hospital fired her for allegedly administering unauthorised drug dosages. Justice Anthony Besanko also held that criticism and instruction did not constitute adverse action be...
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Repeal adverse action: ACCI
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) has called for a repeal of the Fair Work Act's general protections provisions, abolishing adverse action and leaving only Workplace Relations Act-era protections of unlawful termination and ‘freedom of association'. ACCI's submissions to the Productivity Commission review of workplace rel...
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Failed Reg Orgs Bill back in play
The Federal Government has reintroduced the Fair Work Registered Organisations Bill into parliament for the third time, just two weeks after the new Senate voted down the Bill. The unamended Bill, entering the House of Representatives this morning, could become a double dissolution trigger. The Senate previously voted the Bill down on March 6, 33 v...
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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
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CFMEU Vic facing more fines over Grocon blockade
The Vic branch of the Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) is facing further penalties over its 2012 Grocon blockade after a court found the union and eight of its officers were guilty of trying to coerce the building company to employ union-nominated workers as shop stewards on its construction sites. The Federal Court has held over i...
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NSW Labor promises to give flexible work provisions teeth
WFD: The NSW Labor opposition has promised to significantly build on the ‘right to request' flexible work in the Fair Work Act by creating a “positive legal duty on employers” to grant flexible arrangements for workers who are pregnant or have carer or family responsibilities. The policy is part of a suite of proposed changes to t...
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Mitigation can be relevant to strike suspension considerations: FWC
WFD: The Fair Work Commission has held it can consider efforts to mitigate the effect of industrial action when deciding whether to suspend or terminate strikes for threatening health or safety. The ruling came in Senior Deputy President Anne Harrison's reasons for her February 27 decision to suspend the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) and Australian...
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