The Fair Work Act (FW Act) does not protect workers in NSW and SA from adverse action over their political opinions or possibly even their religious beliefs, a Fair Work Commission decision has revealed. Commissioner Ian Cambridge made the ruling relating to NSW workers in his decision allowing a SBS journalist sacked for "inappropriate and disresp...
SBS reporter sacking over tweets reveals adverse action loophole
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Work experience student was employee: court
A law student hired on a work experience placement while he finished his degree was actually an employee owed award wages, superannuation and other entitlements, the Federal Circuit Court has held. The case highlights that employers who take on interns, students and so-called volunteers who perform employee duties are vulnerable to backpay claims. ...
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Prosecutor drops blackmail charge against CFMEU's Lomax
In an embarrassment for the Trade Union Royal Commission's (TURC) Australian Federal Police taskforce (AFP), the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has dropped its blackmail charge against construction union organiser Johnny Lomax. Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) ACT's Lomax was accused of the criminal offence for allegedly...
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Parker denies favours from China trips
Construction union NSW boss Brian Parker has denied receiving thousands of dollars in benefits from a close friend of an employer who was caught underpaying its workers more than $150k, the Trade Union Royal Commission (TURC) has heard. The cmn heard yesterday that Hume Plasterboard Ltd trading as Australian Building Centre head Xin Yi ‘Nick'...
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FW Act blocks multiple bargaining reps for one person
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has for the first time said an individual employee can only nominate one representative in enterprising bargaining negotiations. The recommendation was made during an enterprise bargaining conference between the Australian Workers' Union; the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union; and the Communications Electr...
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Vic Education Dept slammed in sacking case
The Vic Education Department has been criticised by the Fair Work Commission (FWC) for not supporting an inexperienced acting principal and a teacher during a series of workplace disagreements involving claims of bullying. FWC said the department, instead of seeking a remedy, dismissed the teacher for having lost the acting principal's confidence. ...
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Inferior labour hire conditions exposed in EA rejection
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has chucked out a labour hire template enterprise agreement (EA) that removed penalty rates if workers “volunteered” to work certain hours, and blasted labour hire companies' practice of repeatedly seeking to approve the same inferior EA as “lack[ing] integrity”. While FWC has rejected similar ...
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Majority clauses back on the table
“Majority clauses are one means by which award flexibility and efficiency may be increased by reducing the impact of multiple modern award coverage on employers,” said Fair Work Commission (FWC) President Iain Ross. Throwing the clauses back on the agenda for the first time in 15 years as part of the modern award review, Justice Ross sa...
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FIFO inquiry pushes discrimination law changes, ‘best practice' rosters
Without endorsing or condemning even time rosters for fly-in fly-out (FIFO) workers, a Queensland parliamentary inquiry has recommended the government include “best practice principles for commuting, rostering and fatigue management” given the “variation” in practices in the resources sector. The Infrastructure, Planning and...
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FWC's Lawler up for investigation over ‘concerns' and ‘complaints'
The Turnbull Government has appointed an independent investigator to address “a number of concerns” and complaints raised against Fair Work Commission (FWC) Vice President Michael Lawler. Employment minister Senator Michaelia Cash said today that complaints were raised in media reports and directly to FWC president Iain Ross and former ...
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Absorption clause to go but loading link stays
A five-member Fair Work Commission (FWC) full bench has agreed to scrap the standard absorption clause from modern awards but has backed away from an earlier proposal to change the way the casual loading applies to "all purpose" award allowances. The full bench held that it was clear from the "arbitral background" that the modern award absorption c...
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Editorial Team
Editor: David Marin-Guzman, (02) 8587 7682, david.marin-guzman@thomsonreuters.com . Chief Journalist: Steph D'Souza. Managing Editor: Peter Schwab. Twitter: @WorkforceTR
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Shorten proposed $300k Eastlink deal: Sasse
The former senior IR manager for Thiess John Holland (TJH) has told the Trade Union Royal Commission that then- Australian Workers Union (AWU) Vic secretary Bill Shorten proposed the employer fund an on-site union organiser, which he understood would have totaled $100k a year for three years. TURC today restarted its inquiries into TJH's side deal ...
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MUA makes deal for new EA in exchange for voluntary redundancy
Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) and Hutchison Ports Australia (HPA) have reached an in-principle agreement to negotiate a new enterprise agreement by November 16, end parallel Federal Court proceedings and introduce an “enhanced voluntary redundancy process to the whole Hutchison workforce”. Workers and management entered into a six w...
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Turnbull govt reviewing Fair Work laws on penalty rates, bullying
The Turnbull government is conducting a review of the Fair Work Act's anti-bullying jurisdiction and the penalty rates objective for modern awards, with submissions due tomorrow afternoon. The post-implementation review, flagged on the employment department website last month but not otherwise publicly announced, will report on the regulatory impac...
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Editorial Team
Editor: David Marin-Guzman, (02) 8587 7682, david.marin-guzman@thomsonreuters.com . Journalists: John Reynolds, Steph D'Souza. Managing Editor: Peter Schwab. Twitter: @WorkforceTR
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Senate votes up greenfields changes and strike restrictions
The Coalition Government has passed its first substantial piece of IR legislation after reaching a deal with crossbenchers that will allow employers to unilaterally submit greenfields agreements for approval and restrict industrial action if an employer has refused to bargain. At about 2pm this afternoon, Coalition and crossbench senators agreed on...
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CFMEU history of breaches doesn't restrict Ravbar entry permit: bench
Fair Work Building and Construction (FWBC) has lost an appeal to have Qld construction union secretary Michael Ravbar's entry permit revoked because he “tolerated” breaches by his union's organisers, after the Fair Work Commission (FWC) found its case was “riddled with unsubstantiated hyperbole”. Last week (Oct 9) a FWC full...
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Tertiary educated owners were ‘wilfully blind' in underpayment case
A Federal Circuit Court judge has made a rare finding of “wilful blindness” against three petrol station owners who underpaid employees and breached award requirements. Judge John O'Sullivan said the trio's claimed ignorance of award requirements was less believable considering they each had a minimum masters degree education level and ...
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FWBC cracks down on union side-deals
The building watchdog has warned construction companies engaged on Federal Government-funded projects they cannot enter into side-agreement with unions after discovering one unnamed company had an unregistered deal to strongly promote union membership. Cathy Cato, Fair Work Building and Construction (FWBC) building code general manager, said this w...
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