A Labor Government could impose up to $1m penalties and two-years' jail time on employers who don't pay their workers properly, given the “brazen and systemic” underpayment of workers seen in the past 12 months. Outlining the party's policy on worker exploitation, opposition leader Bill Shorten this morning said Labor would also ramp up...
Labor plans to make worker exploitation a criminal offence
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ABCC Bill back before parliament; 2nd secret TURC volume revealed
The Federal Government is set to re-introduce legislation tomorrow to restore the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) and the national building code in the lower house, with the aim of it passing the Senate by early March. The govt will also this week show crossbenchers the confidential volumes of the Trade Union Royal Commission...
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Editorial Team
Editor: David Marin-Guzman, (02) 8587 7682, david.marin-guzman@thomsonreuters.com . Chief Journalist: Gerard May. Managing Editor: Peter Schwab. Twitter: @WorkforceTR
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Employer's use of law firm shields investigation detail from worker
An external workplace investigation into bullying claims commissioned by an employer's law firm is protected by legal privilege, despite the employer referring to it in its decision to sack a worker, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) has ruled. As part of his unfair dismissal claim stevedore and Maritime Union of Aust (MUA) member Mark Kirkman had sou...
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'Cooling off' warranted after MUA bans precluded bargaining: FWC
The Fair Work Commission suspended the Maritime Union of Australia's (MUA) industrial action with Patrick Stevedores Holdings Pty Ltd last month in part because the union's overtime bans meant Patrick's management did not have time to attend bargaining meetings (WF 22/01/16). Vice President Graeme Watson suspended the MUA's protected industrial act...
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Carnell new Small Business Ombudsman
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) CEO Kate Carnell is set to quit after less than two years with the peak employer body to take up a position as the inaugural Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (SBFEO). According to the Federal Government, the SBFEO will extend the activities of the Small Business Commissione...
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‘Windfall' no bar to awarding applicants penalties: Full Court
A Full Federal Court has reaffirmed the right of successful applicants under the Fair Work Act to receive any penalties, ruling that whether such payments represented a ‘windfall' was not relevant to the courts' consideration. Ex-union organiser Muhammad Ali Sayed had successfully argued that the Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFM...
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Training delay meant dismissal of worker who failed to Excel unfair
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has held a WA power company had a valid reason to dismiss an employee for underperformance after revising his position description, but the dismissal was still unfair because it only provided him with the necessary training a month before firing him. Commissioner Bruce Williams held employers must provide their employ...
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Editorial Team
Editor: David Marin-Guzman, (02) 8587 7682, david.marin-guzman@thomsonreuters.com. Chief Journalist: Gerard May. Managing Editor: Peter Schwab. Twitter: @WorkforceTR
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Govt reversal: allows Labor access to TURC secret volumes
In a sudden about-turn, the Federal Government has overnight agreed to show the Trade Union Royal Commission's (TURC) secret volumes to Labor and The Greens as part of its move to push legislation restoring the Australian Building Construction Commission (ABCC) via the Senate (WF 28/01/16). However, some senators are objecting that the reports shou...
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Flight attendants union leader faces election challenge
A Fair Work Commission (FWC) full bench has upheld an order granting membership lists to a contender in the upcoming Flight Attendants Association of Australia's election (FAAA), despite the union's objections. While the bench found FWC delegate Chris Enright denied FAAA procedural fairness in accepting candidate Miranda Diack's undertakings in rel...
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Editorial Team
Editor: David Marin-Guzman, (02) 8587 7682, david.marin-guzman@thomsonreuters.com. Chief Journalist: Gerard May. Managing Editor: Peter Schwab. Twitter: @WorkforceTR
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MUA & CSL battling it out in court and cmn over new shipping dispute
In the latest protest over the Federal Government's coastal shipping licences for foreign-staffed vessels, the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) and shipping giant CSL have turned to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) and Federal Court after crew members of the ship CSL Melbourne refused orders to sail to Singapore. CSL said last week it had decided to...
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Luxury Christmas Island retreat accused of visa worker exploitation
A Christmas Island resort that housed immigration detention centre officials allegedly underpaid a s457 visa worker and fired him the day after it settled his underpayment complaint. The allegations were revealed in a Federal Circuit Court decision granting the worker an extension of time to file his $280k adverse action claim against the resort. S...
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Demotion can be dismissal even if remain in employment: bench
A Fair Work Commission full bench has rejected a cmn member's interpretation of the Fair Work Act that a condition for claiming demotion as unfair dismissal was that the employee no longer remained in employment. Senior Deputy President Matthew O'Callaghan had rejected MSS Security guard Philip Moyle's claim that MSS dismissed him when it transferr...
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Full Court overrules bench on sacking of drunken Qantas pilot
A Full Federal Court has quashed a decision upholding the sacking of an intoxicated Qantas pilot after finding the Fair Work Commission (FWC) full bench stepped outside the limitations of its new ‘permission to appeal' stage and dealt with the substance of the case. Justice Robert Buchanan - with Justices Mordy Bromberg and Daryl Rangiah agre...
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ETU to go after contractors for $10m plus over FIFO precedent
The Electrical Trades Union (ETU) will pursue major resources contractors for millions of dollars after successfully arguing that an employer on the Ichthys LNG project in the Northern Territory short-changed its FIFO workers by including unpaid rest breaks in their notice periods. The union notified a dispute to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) afte...
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ABCC vote delayed until mid-March
The Federal Government's bills to restore the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) have passed the lower house today but a Senate vote is likely to be delayed after the bills were again referred to a senate committee. Meanwhile, Senator Jacqui Lambie has become the first crossbencher to view the Trade Union Royal Commission's (TUR...
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Editorial Team
Editor: David Marin-Guzman, (02) 8587 7682, david.marin-guzman@thomsonreuters.com. Chief Journalist: Gerard May. Journalist: Bernadette McBride. Managing Editor: Peter Schwab. Twitter: @WorkforceTR
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Laurel and Hardy incompetence led to employer's $5k penalty
The Federal Circuit Court (FCC) has ordered a haulage firm to pay a $5k penalty for failing to pay unfair dismissal compensation ordered by the Fair Work Commission (FWC). Judge Stewart Brown said he agreed with the Transport Workers Union (TWU) that Pete's Vehicle Transport (PVT) had shown “scant regard for the decision of the industrial arb...
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