A worker who unsuccessfully sought to take long service leave after Bulla Dairy Foods rejected medical exemption evidence from a since-suspended doctor has failed to establish it unfairly sacked him for breaching a COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
Mining unions have failed to convince a senior FWC member that BHP's vaccination mandate breaches the Privacy Act and that it would be reasonable to let workers confirm their inoculation status via the same check-in method they use to enter a pub.
The FWC has declined to extend time for an unvaccinated worker who claimed he lodged his claim late because of the theft of 45 one-kilogram silver bars from his home, while it has upheld a nursing home's sacking of a maintenance manager who failed to comply with a State Government inoculation mandate.
BHP says it is working with the FWC and the CFMMEU's mining and energy division on further workplace consultation to enable the introduction of a COVID-19 vaccination mandate at its Mt Arthur coal mine in the Upper Hunter Valley.
The key lesson from last week's Mt Arthur ruling by a five-member FWC full bench is that employers that impose vaccination mandates not required by public health orders must comply with consultation obligations, according to the coal mining union's legal director.
In a decision that threatens to undermine employer attempts to impose COVID-19 vaccination mandates, a five-member FWC bench has ruled BHP failed to adequately consult with workers at its Mt Arthur mine before announcing deadlines on site access.
The FWC has extended time for a Victorian tram driver wrongly told he could use his employer's internal appeals process to challenge his sacking, with the advice not corrected by HR until a day after the tribunal's filing deadline.
A worker dismissed for failing to meet his employer's COVID-19 inoculation deadline has failed to win an extension of time for his day-late dismissal claim, after he rushed to lodge it in the wake of the landmark Kimber full bench ruling three days before the 21-day-limit.
BHP has a "compelling safety case" for introducing a mandatory vaccination policy to control COVID-19 at its mine sites, a five-member Fair Work Commission full bench heard today.
BHP Billiton has filed evidence from high-profile epidemiologist Professor Marylouise McLaws in defence of the company's workplace vaccination mandate at its Mt Arthur coal mine.
