WFD: 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 also finding that the labour hire party was not the new employer as rep...
Odco-style arrangements a sham but FWO still loses: Full Court
↧
↧
Give FWC power to break deadlocks: ACTU
WFD: 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...
↧
No evidence supporting major WR reform, academics tell PC
WFD: A group of 15 leading workplace relations (WR) academics have united to argue there is insufficient evidence for the Productivity Commission (PC) to justify radical changes to labour laws and any change should be within the existing system. The academics' submission to the PC's WR inquiry also called on the cmn to emphasise productivity improv...
↧
No costs for union's ‘gaming' of protected action provisions
WFD: 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 cri...
↧
Vic move-on law repeal passes
WFD: 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...
↧
↧
One-minute late does justify strike pay deduction
WFD: 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...
↧
Year-old incident reason for adverse action not workplace right
WFD: 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 workp...
↧
Govt promises 457 visa crackdown
WFD: 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 s...
↧
Full Court upholds FWC backing of ‘zero tolerance' drug policies
WFD: 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 - mainta...
↧
↧
Diary
WA IR Society Productivity Commission Review panel discussion: March 25, Perth. More info here . NSW IR Society Conference: May 22, Leura. More info here . Australian Workplace Relations Study conference, Fair Work Commission : June 25-26, at University of Melbourne. More info here .
↧
‘Recidivist' CFMEU fined $125k for contempt of court over blockade
The Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) has been fined a total of $125k for contempt of court, after it ignored a 2014 court order not to blockade a wind farm construction project. The Federal Court justified the high fines after finding the CFMEU was a “recidivist” and had a propensity to “commit contempts notwithst...
↧
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. Product Code: 314021719545. Twitter: @WorkforceTR
↧
Coalition too weak to implement IR change: Stewart
Employment law expert Professor Andrew Stewart has predicted the Productivity Commission (PC) review of workplace relations laws will fail to deliver major legislative changes, with the Coalition government unlikely or unable to implement recommendations which harm individual workers' rights. Stewart told the Vic Industrial Relations Society (IRSV)...
↧
↧
Lyons quits ACTU
Assistant secretary Tim Lyons has resigned from the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) after unsuccessfully challenging Dave Oliver for the top job. Lyons announced his decision yesterday afternoon (March 19) on Twitter. He said he was “sad about the outcome” and had “mucked a bunch of stuff up over the trip” but did ...
↧
Abetz open to FWC appeals panel, CFMEU deregistration
Employment minister Senator Eric Abetz has refused to rule out pursuing further workplace relations reforms including implementing a Fair Work Commission (FWC) appeals panel and deregistering the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU). Abetz told the Vic Industrial Relations Society (IRSV) conference today (March 20) there was a need...
↧
New recourse for indie contractors on unfair terms promised for July 1
Independent contractors will have new protections after the Federal Government announced its promised extension of unfair contracts provisions for consumers to small business (WF 13/09/2013). The new small business protections due to start July 1 will allow courts to declare void a term within a contract that is unfair. For example, a term that all...
↧
Purported ‘joint venture' covered by adverse action provisions
A company that provides premises and administrative services for doctors to conduct their medical practices is covered by adverse action laws on grounds it is an independent contractor, a Federal Circuit Court has found. The ruling is understood to be the first to find the medical industry arrangement is covered by the Fair Work Act. In 2013, the F...
↧
↧
Industrial action suspended as Esso takes court action
The Australian Workers Union (AWU) has agreed to halt all industrial action at the Esso's Victoria refineries for a week after the company brought court action claiming the union had continued an unprotected ban on voluntary overtime. Esso has secured three s418 stop orders against the AWU for its indefinite industrial action at its Southbank sites...
↧
New recourse for indie contractors on unfair terms promised for July 1
Independent contractors will have new protections after the Federal Government announced its promised extension of unfair contracts provisions for consumers to small business (WF 13/09/2013). The new small business protections due to start July 1 will allow courts to declare void a term within a contract that is unfair. For example, a term that all...
↧
Internal review justified unfair dismissal delay: FWC
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has granted an extension of time to file an unfair dismissal application on grounds the worker's employer told him his termination could be overturned in an internal investigation. The case highlights the need for employers to be consistent in communicating the finality of a decision to terminate a worker's employment...
↧
More Pages to Explore .....
