Major rail freight operator Aurizon plans to cut about 800 jobs over three years as it seeks to deliver up to $300 million in gains under new enterprise agreements, which exclude what the company says are "legacy conditions".
The Federal Court has ordered a tribunal to re-hear a worker's bid for reimbursement of $20,000 for breast reduction surgery she claimed was necessary to relieve back and neck injuries she sustained in the workplace.
A mass meeting of BlueScope Steel workers in Wollongong has endorsed a "game-changing" rescue package that cuts 500 jobs, freezes pay for three years and scraps bonuses in a bid to help keep the steelworks afloat.
FWC bench to hear bid to overturn Coles deal approval; Heydon not planning to recall Shorten, but Howes set to appear; Ballot gets the go-ahead despite employer objections; Queensland FIFO report recommends workforce, accommodation laws; High Court confirms role of hindsight in determining injury claims; and Employers, unions decry threats to freedom of association.
An accountant, who agreed to sell his practice and its services over a four-year period will continue to be restricted from practising, after an appeal court rejected his argument that restraints of trade no longer applied.
The Fair Work Commission will engage an external "plain language expert" to redraft the Pharmacy Award before it is user-tested in a pilot as part of the tribunal's four-yearly review of modern awards.
"Members only" collective agreements should be introduced and it should be left to employers to decide whether to provide the same wages and conditions to non-members, according to Sydney University's Ron McCallum.
The Fair Work Commission has hit back at Productivity Commission criticism, with its President, Iain Ross, saying that the PC's IR inquiry findings appear to reflect a "misunderstanding of [the] Commission's statutory role and functions".
Lawyers have told the Productivity Commission that its proposals to end tenure for new FWC appointees and to subject members to performance reviews would undermine the umpire's independence, while raising concern about a suggestion that only non-lawyers should determine matters in the proposed minimum standards division.
The standard absorption clause will no longer form a part of modern awards, with a five-member full bench ruling that it has served its purpose as a transitional tool.
