ARTICLES

Case reference: Australian Building and Construction Commissioner v Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union [2018] HCA 3 A ruling from the High Court last week has confirmed that under the Fair Work Act, a court is entitled to make a “personal payment order” which ensures that a union official who has been required to pay a pecuniary penalty can’t accept an [...]

A recent decision of the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia has confirmed an employer’s right to direct employees to attend medical appointments. Grant v BHP Coal Pty Ltd was an appeal against a decision of a single member of the court that affirmed that the Fair Work Commission had not incorrectly dismissed Mr Grant’s unfair dismissal application. Mr [...]

The Federal Circuit Court has determined that although a fly in fly out (FIFO) worker was a casual employee under the enterprise agreement that covered his employment with a labour hire company, he was “other than a casual” for the purposes of the Fair Work Act 2009 and was therefore entitled to payment of accrued annual leave when his employment [...]

On 3 November 2016, Justice Bromberg of the Federal Court dismissed an application for a declaration and penalties made by Fair Work Building and Construction (FWBC) against an organiser employed by the CFMEU. The organiser, who did not have a right of entry permit issued under the Fair Work Act (FW Act) and was therefore not a ‘Permit Holder’, entered [...]

The Fair Work Act 2009 allows a union official to enter premises to hold discussions with members and employees eligible to be members “during mealtimes or other breaks.”  The official must give the occupier of the premises between 24 hours and 14 days written notice of his or her intention to enter the premises. In a recent case,  CFMEU v [...]

An ex employee of Toll holdings who submitted a falsified drug test result in support of his unfair dismissal application has been ordered to pay his former employer’s costs of more than $18,000.00 In making the order that the ex-employee pay all of Toll’s legal costs and witness expenses, Deputy President Gostencnik found that the unfair dismissal claim was built [...]

One of the principal objectives of the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 is to promote and improve gender equality in employment and in the workplace. All non-public sector employers with 100 or more staff must submit a report to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (the “WGEA”) between 1 April and 31 May each year for the preceding 12 month period. Relevant employers [...]

A 60 year old Aircraft Engineer has won his job back after Jetstar terminated him for breaching ‘Cardinal Safety Rules’ at Avalon Airport in Victoria. The dismissed employee, Mr Gill had worked as a Licensed  Aircraft Maintenance Engineer for 30 years, the last four and half of which were for Jetstar. He had an exemplary employment record having never before been [...]