The NSW IRC (in Court Session) has found two former investment bankers liable for what could be a million dollars in indemnity costs for their failed s106 unfair contracts case, while it has refused a Rio Tinto subsidiary's bid for indemnity costs.
Resources giant BHP Billiton has initiated legal action against one of its Pilbara employees over a letter he wrote to a newspaper alleging the company was targeting award-based workers for redundancy.
In an unprecedented move to retain new mothers in the workforce, Melbourne's Monash University has offered $15,000 research grants to women in its science faculty when they return from maternity leave.
The Federal Court has ruled in favour of keeping the CFMEU out of the massive North West Shelf gas project in WA until the trial of its right of entry case against Woodside and the site contractors.
Labour hire is back on the NSW Government's agenda, with Premier Bob Carr tonight promising to set up a tripartite industry council to oversee IR and OHS compliance.
It's irrelevant to the current state of play between Grocon and the CFMEU, but the AIRC's decision to reject the company's application to certify the one s170LK deal it got up after its falling out with the union shows the importance of full disclosure during bargaining.
The Australian Writers Guild Association has applied to the AIRC to register as a union, more than a year after its 2,000 members gave approval to the move.
The ACTU has accused the Government of "trying to nobble the independent umpire" with its new safety net legislation which, if it gets through the Senate, would put pressure on the AIRC to confine living wage increases to the lowest paid workers.
WR Minister Tony Abbott will legislate to require the AIRC to consider employment impacts on the low-paid before adjusting the safety net, while Labor has released a raft of proposed amendments to the Government's bill to update the Sex Discrimination Act.
