WFD: The Federal Circuit Court has dismissed an application for lost wages because the woman who claimed she worked 14 hours every day for six months without pay as a kitchen hand could not prove she was an employee. Judge Nick Nicholls saidHemali Prajapati sought compensation because Narshima Tradings Pty Ltd T/a Ziggy's Cafe and its manager Harih...
Woman worked for family - not pay - court finds
↧
↧
Belan brother first to tackle admissibility of TURC evidence
WFD: Fair Work Commission (FWC) president Justice Iain Ross has knocked back an application to direct a full bench to decide whether the FWC can accept material that has come out of the Trade Union Royal Commission (TURC). The issue relates to whether the FWC is a “court” for the purposes of s6DD of the Royal Commissions Act 1902. It st...
↧
Lift technicians win 12% pay rise
WFD: The Communication Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU) South Australian branch says 24 of its lift technician members have voted up an in-principle enterprise agreement (EA) with Otis Elevators. The union said the pay increases brings its SA members “wage justice” in line with technicians who do the same work in other states. CEPU ...
↧
Union wins FWC order to search non-member records
WFD: The Transport Workers Union (TWU) has won a Fair Work Commission (FWC) order granting it access to non-member records to investigate whether drivers are being paid the award rates they are entitled to. The TWU applied to inspect records of 23 non- members who “perform work in conjunction with arrangements entered into with” Linfox ...
↧
Undercover investigation leads to fair dismissal
WFD: The Fair Work Commission (FWC)has found a major car manufacturer had a valid reason to fire an employee it subjected to undercover surveillance because he misled a company investigation into his conduct. Commissioner Nick Wilson also found Toyota Motor Corporation Australia fairly dismissed Altona plant team leader Daniel Wessley because he cl...
↧
↧
FWC member overlooks ‘character' of trading activity: full bench
WFD: A Fair Work Commission (FWC) full bench has upheld a trade and investment officer's appeal against a decision to toss out his anti-bullying application on the grounds his employer was not a constitutionally-covered organisation. The full bench - Deputy Presidents Val Gostencnik and John Kovacic and Commissioner Paula Spencer - rejected Cmr Jen...
↧
Sacking harsh, but telling lies prevented reinstatement: cmr
WFD: The NSW Industrial Relations Commission has found a hospital's sacking of a security guard accused of acting like a “Kings Cross bouncer” in removing an intoxicated person from the emergency department (ED) was harsh. Commissioner Inaam Tabbaa took into account the guard had breached NSW Health policy and not followed nursing staff...
↧
Annual wage growth hits new low
WFD: Annual wage growth has slowed to its lowest level since the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) began publishing wages data in 1998. The ABS figures showed the wage price index ( WPI ) rose 1.9% in the year to September 2016, after wage growth edged up 0.4% in the September quarter. Seasonally adjusted private sector wages rose 0.4% compared...
↧
Award change allows part-time work for Victorian fire fighters
WFD: A Fair Work Commission full bench has overturned tradition and introduced an award clause allowing part-time employment for Victoria's public sector firefighters. The bench agreed to vary the Fire Fighting Industry Award 2010 as part of the four yearly review of modern awards, following an application by the Victorian Metropolitan Fire and Eme...
↧
↧
FWO secures record high penalty against cleaning company owner
WFD: The Fair Work Ombudsman's (FWO) strategy of pursuing exploitative company directors using accessorial liability provisions has paid off, with the workplace watchdog securing its highest penalty against an individual for sham contracting breaches. The Federal Circuit Court fined Bijal Girish Sheth $126,540 and ordered him to repay overseas work...
↧
Tighter procurement provisions throw construction EAs in doubt
WFD: The Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) has said many hundreds of companies face the prospect of being blacklisted from federally-funded projects if legislation to reinstate the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) passes the Senate. CFMEU general and construction secretary Dave Noonan told Workforce Daily an es...
↧
‘Large shift' to part time work in last 12 months: ABS
WFD: A shift from full-time to part-time work has fuelled a decline in trend employment in October for the first time since recordings began in November 2013, Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures have revealed. The ABS said trend employment decreased by 1,000 workers in October. It said the “slight fall” reflected an increase i...
↧
Company says sub-contracts are good ahead of union inspection
WFD: Trucking company Linfox has told Workforce Daily it does not tolerate sub-contractors breaching agreements with it, after the Fair Work Commission (FWC) yesterday granted the Transport Workers Union (TWU) access to non-member records who perform work with it. The company was responding after Commissioner David Gregory granted TWU access to dri...
↧
↧
Editorial Team
Editor: Annie Lawson (03) 9286 1411. Chief Journalist: Gerard May Journalist: Bernadette McBride Managing Editor: Peter Schwab Twitter: @WorkforceTR
↧
TURC cops arrest Belan, bail refused
TheTrade Union Joint Police Taskforcedetectives have arrested a 45-year-old man and a 35-year-old woman “in relation to a series of alleged frauds regarding the state branch of a national union organisation”. In the Trade Union Royal Commission's (TURC) final report, Cmr Dyson Heydon recommended police further investigate National Union...
↧
CFMEU blocks AWU EA approval
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has granted the construction union the right to peruse “initiating documents” for an Australian Workers Union (AWU) and labour hire firm greenfield enterprise agreement (EA) over claims workers may get paid less than award rates. Despite AWU objections, Deputy President Jeff Lawrence saw “no reason...
↧
Vic acts to protect owner-drivers at bottom of supply chains
The VictorianGovernment has announced a review of laws regulating owner drivers and forestry contractors, with the aim of improving their conditions and preventing exploitation. The Govt says it is driven by its Labour Hire Industry and Insecure Work inquiry findings ( WF 28/10/2016 ) and the Federal Govt's decision to dump the Road Safety Remunera...
↧
↧
$11k for unfair dismissal after FWC finds text not a warning
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has awarded a worker more than $11k for being unfairly dismissed after finding his employers' text message was not an adequate warning to him prior to his dismissal. Commissioner Anna-Lee Cribb found Cut Above the Rest Tree Surgery Pty Ltd's dismissal of charge hand James Taylor was harsh because the process leading u...
↧
Political staffers have their say
Parliamentary staffers will vote next week on a three-year pay deal struck under the Coalition's restrictive public sector bargaining framework. The three-year enterprise agreement (EA) on offer will, if endorsed, cover some 1700 federal parliamentary staffers, the majority of whom work for Coalition MPs and senators. The Commonwealth Members of Pa...
↧
Employers tell COAG to sort VET
While “Australia's vocational education and training system was once the envy of the world” it has deteriorated to the extent apprenticeship numbers have collapsed, peak employer groups have said. Some 61% of trades and technician occupations are experiencing shortages, Australian Chamber, Australian Industry Group, and the Business Cou...
↧
