A Federal Court majority has today dealt a hammer blow to NSW's and Victoria's pursuit of employers alleged to have avoided long service leave entitlements to casuals, ruling that a tribunal's reading of the Fair Work Act's LSL provision produced an "absurdity" whereby employers received "no warning" they could be held criminally liable for supposed non-payments.
The HSU's Victorian No. 1 branch "plainly" received "preferential treatment" from advisors to Victoria Labor Premier Daniel Andrews and his health ministers that influenced the awarding and management of a multi-training scheme in 2018 to a union-linked foundation, according to a special report by the State's anti-corruption watchdog.
Victoria's Andrews Labor Government will provide funding to increase annual public sector wage rises from 1.5% to 3%, while allowing departments and agencies to "generate additional entitlements" through productivity gains.
Professional associations representing Victoria's surveyors have joined forces to push back against the CFMMEU's construction division allegedly applying unlawful pressure on their members to join the union, hindering work on major projects.
Victoria's nation-first pilot scheme providing paid sick leave to casual and contract workers in selected industries has paid out more than one million hours of leave at a cost of more than $22 million in the past year, but unenthusiastic employers ensure its future remains cloudy despite evidence it reduced workplace illnesses.
A majority of Australia's governments have today agreed to incorporate industrial manslaughter provisions in the national model OHS laws, while they unanimously backed an immediate start to preparatory work for a ban on manufactured stone products linked with silicosis and other lung diseases.
A tribunal has refused to throw out a female firefighter's workplace s-xual harassment claim involving allegations of "serious and sustained harassment and abuse" dating back almost 25 years, finding it reasonable that she believed making external complaints while employed would have jeopardised her career.
An employer must pay more than $50,000 to compensate a supervisor it victimised by forcing her to take leave and change roles after she complained that a male colleague sexually-harassed her when he stared at her breasts.
The Victorian Supreme Court has fined a former labour hire company and its director almost half a million dollars for failing to disclose that he had criminal convictions for offences including drug trafficking and theft.