A McDonald's franchise that says it can otherwise stop workers from going to the toilet if it provides a 10-minute paid break contained in their agreement has told a court that Queensland's WHS Act does not entitle employees "to be protected from cruel and inhumane working conditions".
The FWC has awarded more than $2000 compensation to a roadside supervisor dismissed after he inserted a metal bar down the rear of a co-worker's pants and directed crew members to collect refundable cans and bottles so he could give the money to his daughter.
In a case highlighting the dangers of failing to engage with underpayments cases, an employer who did not respond to a claim it short-changed a teenage worker by $8000 must now pay him an additional $240,000 in penalties.
The CEPU has been fined $445,000 for historic reporting breaches, a Federal Court judge observing that the penalty would have been higher had the union not moved to clean up its act by employing a compliance officer.
The FWC has found an employer's failure to consult a pregnant worker before abruptly announcing her redundancy to be the "very definition of unfair", rejecting its submissions that a series of meetings were adequate.
An employer that unilaterally reduced the classification levels of two workers previously handed a pay upgrade has failed to convince the FWC it had no power to intervene in a contractual issue "masquerading" as an enterprise agreement dispute.
The FWC in endorsing a deal for the Super Retail Group and its 10,000 employees has published a detailed chronology to demonstrate that "there is no 'go slow' on agreement approvals".
Queensland's IRC is today considering a bid to restrain Queensland Health from dismissing a senior nurse who says she spoke to the media about alleged training flaws in her role as a union delegate, in a case testing the state's new human rights laws and the rights of non-registered unions.
A lawyer has launched a novel adverse action case against a law firm that sacked him within his probationary period, seeking a payout equivalent to nine-months' notice in part because it prevented him from working the minimum notice period by locking him out of its system.
Melbourne's Crown Casino is staring down calls to pay about $4.5 million in employee entitlements owed by the operator of a celebrity restaurant on its premises.
