WFD: In a significant decision looking at the limits of the Fair Work Commission's powers for general protections claims, Deputy President Peter Sams has ruled the cmn cannot determine workplace rights as a threshold question and that applicants are not required to name such rights when applying for s368 conferences. DP Sams' decision comes days af...
FWC limits powers over adverse action claims
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Cmr rejects Hull-Moody, rules paid annual leave a 'composite' term
WFD: In a significant cashing out of annual leave decision, a Fair Work Commission single member has taken the Federal Court's Jeld-Wen single judge decision ( WF 18095 ) as precedent over the cmn's full bench 2011 ruling in Hull-Moody ( WF 18025 ) . Commissioner Anna Cribb opted for Justice Peter Gray's decision when determining an enterprise agre...
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WA boost state min wage to address record income inequality
WFD: The WA Industrial Relations Commission (WAIRC) has increased the state minimum wage by $18.20 a week after the cmn noted the state had the highest income inequality in the country. The flat-dollar increase, which also applies to all state award rates, is higher than the Fair Work Commission's recent national wage increase of 2.6% or $15.80 a w...
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Target cuts 260 jobs in Victoria
WFD: The Australian Services Union (ASU) has called for greater state government regional jobs support in the wake of Target retrenching 216 workers at its HQ in Geelong on Wednesday (June 12), with a further 40 plus jobs to go in Melbourne. ASU Victorian branch secretary Ingrid Stitt was at Target Geelong on Weds. She said the Target lay-offs coul...
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Westpac under fire over its handling of bullying complaint
Westpac and two of its line managers are under fire over their handling of a workplace bullying allegation, with one manager accused of taking part in the bullying and the other of failing to act on the allegation. Westpac claimed many of the actions Abby Holt complained of were reasonable management action conducted by her team leader in a reasona...
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FWC rules public holiday exception to 21-day lodgement rule
WFD: The Fair Work Commission has ruled that if an unfair dismissal application's final date for lodgement falls on a public holiday, it can be lodged the next day. Senior Deputy President Peter Richards made the ruling in a case where Ronald Hemi lodged his application on April 2, 2013, one day past the 21-day lodgement rule. April 1, 2013 had bee...
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US IR firm raids Freehills, Ashurst, ABL for Oz launch
WFD: US-based law firm Seyfarth Shaw - with a reputation for 'union avoidance' - has announced plans to launch a specialist workplace relations practice in Australia. But its official start date could be delayed as its high-profile recruitments seek to exit their current contracts. Seyfarth will operate from Melbourne and Sydney and has recruited e...
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FWC calls time on 'unsafe' mobile phone use while driving bus
WFD: The Fair Work Commission has cracked down on mobile phone use as a workplace health hazard, rejecting a bus driver's reinstatement bid after he was sacked for receiving and making several calls while driving a busload of passengers in 2012. In a ruling highlighting mobile phone use as a serious safety breach, Deputy President Anna Booth found ...
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Procedural flaws overlooked in sacking of HR manager
WFD: The Fair Work Commission has found an HR manager's instructions to a colleague not to provide information to board members amounted to serious misconduct warranting summary dismissal. Deputy President Val Gostencnik excused the employer's procedural deficiencies in the dismissal due to the HR manager's position and familiarity with the company...
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Diary
7th Annual Workplace and IR National Conference: June 17-18, Sydney Harbour Marriott at Circular Quay. Details here . Workplace Research Centre Annual Labour Law Conference: July 22, The Hilton Hotel Sydney, 488 George Street. Details here . Thomson Reuters National Workforce and Beyond Symposium: October 15-17, Melbourne. Program details tba.
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Editorial team
Editor: Rajiv Maharaj, (03) 8684 2139, rajiv.maharaj@thomsonreuters.com. Chief Journalist: David Marin-Guzman. Journalist: Steve Andrew. Managing Editor: Peter Schwab. Product code: 314021718715. Twitter: @WorkforceTR
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FWC reinstates time ‘thief' after finding loss of trust claim ‘irrational'
The Fair Work Commission has reinstated an unfairly dismissed employee despite employer claims he had stolen from the company and it had lost all trust in him. In remedy proceedings, Supreme Caravans (SC) opposed reinstatement of worker Hung Pham, arguing it was pursuing criminal charges against him and considering civil action. However, Commission...
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AMWU recruits its first Aboriginal organiser in Pilbara, Wossy Davey
The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) has recruited its first Aboriginal organiser in Western Australia, Kimberley man Russell 'Wossy' Davey. The union has been working closely with the Kimberley Land Council to educate Aboriginal communities about workers' rights. It said Davey was "the right person to advance that cause" with "deep co...
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Rudd calls for tripartite national productivity agenda
WFD: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has called on business and unions to work with the Federal Government on a national competiveness and productivity agenda. Speaking at the National Press Club yesterday (July 11), Rudd warned if that agenda was not embraced Australia could "price itself out of international business". In the Q&A session that follo...
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National strike looms for Toll as TWU fights for job security
WFD: Australia's biggest transport operator Toll Group is bracing for a 72-hour strike after the Fair Work Commission on Tuesday (July 9) approved a protected action ballot for Toll's 5,000-plus workforce across more than 400 sites nationally. The Transport Workers Union (TWU) applied for the ballot order on July 5 after enterprise agreement bargai...
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FWC finds MUA ordered 'covert' productivity cap
WFD: Fair Work Commission Vice President Graeme Watson has delivered a scathing decision against the Maritime Union of Australia for undertaking "covert" industrial action at Port Botany in response to Patrick's automation plans. VP Watson issued a stop order against illegal industrial activity after finding the MUA had organised go-slows, a produc...
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Unemployment up 0.2% to 5.7%
The unemployment rate increased 0.2% to 5.7% in June while the participation rate and hours worked increased, the latest ABS Labour Force data has revealed. It said the number of people unemployed increased by 23,700 to 709,300. The ABS said the number of people employed increased by 10,300 to 11,668,500 in June. However, that was due to part-time ...
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NTEU calls for changes to Act as PABO delayed by two weeks plus
WFD: The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) is pushing for changes to the Fair Work Act to speed up the determining of protected action ballot orders (PABO) after an application was delayed by more than two weeks following "vexatious" employer objections and formalised proceedings. The University of Western Sydney (UWS), represented by law fi...
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Bechtel loses right to appeal 'theoretical' MUA RoE win
WFD: Bechtel has lost a bid to appeal a Fair Work Commission decision and order giving the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) right-of-entry (RoE) to an LNG construction site on Queensland's Curtis Island. The Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA) had described the original decision as part of increasing union "turf wars" in the resources s...
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Judge upholds mgt prerogative over shift change in adverse action claim
WFD: The Federal Circuit Court has carefully distinguished between a worker's right to take personal leave and his having an unpredictable attendance record in rejecting a claim that BHP subsidiary Endeavour Coal breached general protections by changing a worker's shifts due to his "unreliability". The Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFM...
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