Workers on "outer limits" fixed-term contracts and long-term casuals have been given more latitude to pursue unfair dismissal claims after an FWC full bench decision that brings the accepted precedent on employer-initiated terminations into line with Fair Work Act provisions.
Former Australia Post chief executive Ahmed Fahour says he was acting out of concern for his national compensation manager's welfare rather than acceding to union demands when he sacked him and shut down his cost-saving project the same day he received a call from an "angry" union leader with whom he'd previously had hostile exchanges.
Information Commissioner Tim Pilgrim has taken into account CFMEU construction and general division Victorian branch leader John Setka's threats to ABCC inspectors at a recent rally in finding it against the public interest to disclose the identities and contact details of the watchdog's personnel that the union sought under FoI provisions.
The ACTU says a High Court decision that makes it harder for unions to take protected industrial action has made Australia's workplace laws "much more oppressive" at a time when strikes are already at record lows.
A home-based sales representative has been compensated after the FWC found that he was sacked within a day of receiving a "manifestly unreasonable" ultimatum to pack up his life in Byron Bay and return to work in his employer's Sydney office.
The High Court has directed an FWC full bench to re-determine whether a controversial Aldi agreement for a new distribution centre passes the better off overall test, but it has agreed with the retailer that deals covering new enterprises can extend to employees yet to work there.
The High Court has today upheld an appeal by Esso Australia against a finding that industrial action taken by the AWU in 2015 was protected, in a decision that leaves the way open for a substantial damages claim against the union.
The AMWU has welcomed an FWC recommendation to end the long-running maintenance dispute at Griffin Coal and put a proposed agreement to the workforce, calling the package a "common sense middle ground" and a "sensible solution".
