Posts: Industrial Disputes

Employers often see the disciplinary process as an opportunity to raise every single indiscretion by an employee – even though the issues occurred in the past or are minor in nature when compared to other misconduct. However, this approach can weaken the employer’s position, rather than strengthen the decision to dismiss.

Cases and Legislation June 2020 NEWS ALERTS NSW Work Health Safety Legislation Amendments The Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW) (WHS Act) was recently amended giving effect to some of the recommendations of the 2018 national review of the modern WHS Act. ...

Cases and Legislation February 2020 Post-Employment Conduct “Ex-employee fined for contempt after breaching Court undertakings" Maxilift Australia Pty Ltd v Donnelly [2020] SASC 8 Executive summary A former sales manager has been fined $7,115 and found in contempt of...

Drunkenness and vomiting at after work drinks did not justify employee's dismissal.

Employers' duty of care for employees, duty of care and contributory negligence, workers compensation and working from home, multiple roles and overtime, general protections and reason for adverse action.

Employee conduct and codes of conduct, employers’ liability and employee out-of-hours conduct, employer in breach of privacy laws, redundancies and suitable alternative employment, workplace bullying and disciplinary action

Workplace investigations and the disciplinary process, labour hire company convicted, review of Miscellaneous Award 2010, recruitment, criminal records and discrimination, sports Law - player suspensions and stand downs

In a matter recently before the Federal Circuit Court of Australia an employer successfully claimed that an employee acted unreasonably in the course of proceedings and the employer was awarded costs of $35,000.

Employees making claims against their employers are able to name individuals they believe to have been involved in the contraventions of the FW Act that make up their claim.

Under the Fair Work Act, employees are entitled to take protected industrial action in circumstances where they are bargaining for a new enterprise agreement.

Social media is also recognised as a powerful information sharing tool and many social movements are commenced and advanced online.

In a recent Fair Work Commission decision in Alcoa of Australia Limited v AWU [2016] FWC 3582, the FWC looked at whether Alcoa was entitled to require all employees, including AWU delegates covered by the World Alumina Australia WA Operations AWU Enterprise Agreement 2014, and working on the Western Australia Mining site, to comply with the terms of the Western Australian Mining Dress Policy.

We recently discussed managerial prerogative and the ability for management to direct employees not to wear shirts with a union logo on them in accordance with the employer’s policy. The issue with respect to union material on employee work uniforms again came before the Fair Work Commission in CEPU, AMWU, CFMEU v Laing O’Rouke Australia Construction Pty Ltd [2016] FWC 3699.

In McLachlan v Illawarra Coal Holdings Pty Ltd T/A South 32 [2017] FWC 5167, an employer sought to argue that they validly dismissed an employee for his organisation of, and participation in, unprotected industrial action.

The NSW Government has proposed changes to the exercise of functions by the NSW Industrial Relations Commission (NSW IRC) in response to a marked decreased workload level.

Recently, there has been intense focus in the media on two of Australia’s top sporting codes and their negotiations for new pay deals. The threats of strikes and boycotts highlight why it is important to have and maintain good communication between the parties in the collective bargaining process.

What does an employer do in circumstances where it has granted flexible working arrangements and it is no longer able to accommodate the employee?

Employers seeking to undertake Commonwealth funded building and construction work will be required to ensure that their enterprise agreements comply with the 2016 Building Code by 31 August 2017 under a new Bill introduced in Federal Parliament.