The Fair Work Commission has declined to block five employers from disciplining employees who refuse to get the COVID-19 vaccination, after finding they could suffer "irrecoverable" financial detriment by retaining them.
Westpac has entered into an enforceable undertaking and is backpaying employees $6 million after self-reporting that it had underpaid long service leave entitlements.
In a significant decision, an employee has failed to convince the High Court that his employer breached its enterprise agreement when disciplining and then dismissing him for exercising his intellectual freedom.
An employer followed its enterprise agreement "unconsciously rather than deliberately" in deciding whether to make a role redundant, but its decision was nonetheless valid, the Federal Court has ruled.
An employee's intellectual freedom rights trumped his employer's code of conduct requirement to treat others with sensitivity, a full Federal Court has ruled in upholding his appeal.
Coles has been accused of giving a "poor excuse" for underpaying its workers. Also in this article, the FWC has expressed provisional views on whether gig workers should have their own modern award.
Employment contracts can work in harmony with modern awards and enterprise agreements if employers are careful not to make industrial instruments contractually binding, a lawyer says.
Employers are "mourning" the IR omnibus Bill's ill-fated enterprise bargaining changes, but there are plenty of other developments in this space to watch and prepare for, an employment lawyer says.
Costly legal disputes continue to highlight the many risks employers face when managing, disciplining, or dismissing employees while they are absent, injured or incapacitated. Attend this webinar for an up-to-date review of the legal framework applying to workplace absenteeism, injury and incapacity, and lessons from recent case law.
