This Month
The roundtable needs to be Labor’s ‘Nixon in China’ IR moment
Labor needs to challenge its policy and political orthodoxies on workplace regulation to fix the nation’s economic malaise.
New hire allegedly sacked one hour after advising of pregnancy
A company has been accused of telling its new hire “it’s not going to work out” because she was pregnant.
Union pulls trigger for national pay deal at McDonald’s
The retail union has launched legal action to extend landmark bargaining orders for 5000 workers in South Australia to 115,000 workers around the country.
BHP ‘same pay’ case an IR wake-up call for business
Unless business is willing to push the Albanese government on the IR elephant in the room, the roundtable will fail to come up with the meaningful solutions required to fix the productivity malaise.
Professor sacked for relationship with student gets his job back
The Fair Work Commission found it was unfair for the University of Melbourne academic to lose his job, and reinstated him and awarded $28,000 in compensation.
Warning: Centralised wage-fixing in Australia has returned
The Fair Work Commission’s ruling on BHP’s “same job, same pay” case is a reversal of the Keating model, which led to enterprise autonomy and collaboration.
BHP pay ruling leaves ‘very wide grey zone’ for contractors
A landmark ruling has left open who will be exempt from Labor’s same job, same pay laws but traditional service contractors are likely to remain safe.
BHP loses $66m fight with union in landmark ruling
BHP has lost its challenge to unions’ “same job, same pay” claims in a decision that will have broad ramifications for the mining industry and beyond.
Chevron hit by record pay claims as ‘same job’ laws hit oil and gas
The energy giant’s Gorgon LNG plant is facing “same job, same pay” claims upwards of $80,000 a year in a test case that could flow onto Shell, Woodside and Inpex.
Ord Minnett court win rules out minimum salaries for stockbrokers
The Federal Court has ruled that stockbrokers are not covered by the award, overruling a decision that could have exposed firms to millions of dollars in back pay.
Employers furious over small business IR review ‘charade’
Businesses and crossbenchers have blasted the government’s long-awaited report into potentially expanding exemptions after it opted to make no recommendations.
Big union win over McDonald’s; Pizza Hut and Domino’s could be next
A landmark multi-employer bargaining decision opens a backdoor for unions to force employers to negotiate without proving workers’ majority support.
MinterEllison facing $800k lawsuit over ‘excessive hours’
Former employee Alfreda Garnsey accuses the law firm’s services arm of acting against her for complaining about overwork and “aggressive” emails with caps lock.
June
Workers covered by union deals soars to record high
The Albanese government credits its sweeping IR changes for the resurgence in union deals while downplaying chances of workplace reforms to boost productivity.
Lattouf’s win over the ABC is a wake-up call for every employer
During a period of global turmoil, the Federal Court has held that workers are protected over controversial political opinions. But the fight may have only just begun.
A tradie boss swore at a worker. A tribunal ruled that’s not OK
The Fair Work Commission has ruled a Melbourne business gave an employee no choice but to quit when a boss swore at him during a performance meeting.
This hairdresser hired 22 people. She’s no longer a small business
A government review into the small business threshold for workplace laws is expected this week and employers say it should be Labor’s priority.
Make penalties on WFH part of productivity talks, business tells Labor
Employers will push for flexibility around work hours and penalty rates when employees work from home in talks with the workplace relations minister.
Sacked teacher uses right to disconnect to sue for $800k
The case is the first public legal action to cite the Albanese government’s new right to disconnect laws.
May
Slater and Gordon knew about fraudster’s history, lawsuit alleges
Former chief people officer Mari Ruiz-Matthyssen also claims the firm was aware that Bridgett Maddox had attempted to access internal systems after she was suspended.