A male worker and an employer that pledged to indemnify him after he was accused of sexual assaulting a female colleague have been ordered to jointly pay her $130,000 in damages for pain and suffering and for the company to pay a further $20,000 in aggravated damages, after it conducted a "trenchant defence" of the perpetrator, who took advantage of the young woman after she collapsed at work.
Employers should be subject to a stronger onus to prevent s-xual harassment under the existing positive duty to provide safe workplaces under OHS laws, while the Fair Work Act should be amended to include explicit anti-harassment rights, according to Victoria Legal Aid.
The operator of a multi-billion dollar offshore gas project is being sued for gender discrimination, a former employee alleging the company paid her less than men, refused to cover travel costs, and took adverse action by downgrading her duties when she made complaints in the course of her job.
The FWC has castigated port operator DP World for its lackadaisical mental health policies in upholding a model long-term employee's dismissal for being drunk on duty.
Employer denied natural justice over late agreement: Bench; FWC upholds Coles' harassment sacking; Victorian gig economy inquiry extends submission deadline; and half million dollar safety fine for Patrick over threats to workers.
The FWC earlier this month halted industrial action at BP's Kwinana oil refinery after it accepted that a shutdown of up to a fortnight would be the "unavoidable and inevitable consequence" of protected bans and limitations by AWU members.
A full bench has allowed an employee to challenge his dismissal for refusing to use his employer's fingerprint scanning technology that monitored attendance and tracked shifts, finding the case raises "important, novel and emerging issues".
A veteran IR and HR consultant is suing the Victorian Hospitals Industrial Association for age discrimination, alleging it caused him to suffer a major depressive disorder and then discriminated against him because of his mental disability.
Retiring industry super fund architect Garry Weaven has urged the ACTU to integrate its campaign for wage increases with plans to raise compulsory superannuation contributions to 12%, dismissing a recent think tank report arguing the two are incompatible.
A morbidly obese office worker sacked after her third fall at work will have another chance to challenge it, the Federal Circuit Court finding earlier discontinued applications in the FWC and the Human Rights Commission to be no barrier.
