In a significant decision acknowledged as potentially being viewed as "undemocratic", a FWC full bench majority has found it has the power to make a workplace determination on contested bargaining matters after a deal has already been approved by the Commission.
A full High Court has refused Catholic school employers leave to appeal a "systemic[ally] importan[t]" finding that employees who resign before a new agreement's retrospective pay rises come into effect are entitled to back pay.
An individual bargaining agent has failed to persuade the FWC that it should not permit Australia's largest private sector company and second-biggest union – both with substantial legal and IR capacity – from engaging external lawyers to defend a bargaining order bid, as negotiations continue to replace its supermarkets deal.
One of the country's longest-running bargaining disputes has sprung to life again after the FWC granted the AMWU a majority support determination despite protestations from employer Cochlear that union officials trespassed on its premises in pursuit of petition signatures.
A FWC full bench has granted the TWU an intractable bargaining declaration at a second Cleanaway site, in Wollongong, ahead of a hearing to consider a determination for the waste giant's Erskine Park site in April.
The ACTU and Minerals Council have won permission to intervene in what a FWC full bench describes as a "significant test" of Labor's multi-employer bargaining laws.
Media host and writer Antoinette Lattouf has failed to have the ABC's jurisdictional objections to her unlawful dismissal case referred directly to a FWC full bench, despite arguing that she will appeal an unfavourable finding and that she "anticipates" that the broadcaster will do the same.
A senior FWC member has granted unions a protected action ballot period of eight working days despite an employer's claim his decision in Nilsen established a 10-day minimum for electronic voting, and its concerns a shorter timeframe will hamper preparations for the s448A compulsory conference.
Lawyers for media host and writer Antoinette Lattouf have taken her high-profile departure from the ABC to the Federal Court, alleging she was unlawfully sacked in breach of the ABC's enterprise agreement.
