ADMINISTRATIVE COURTS – AUSTRALIA

Coles-union deal paid below legal safety net

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Original article by Elizabeth Colman
The Australian – Page: 2 : 1-Jun-16

The Fair Work Commission has ruled against an enterprise bargaining agreement between grocery giant Coles and the Shop, Distributive & Allied Employees’ Association. The FWC found that the agreement does not comply with the Fair Work Act’s requirement that employees must be better off overall, as it provides for an hourly rate of pay that is above the award rate but includes lower penalty rates. The FWC had approved the deal in 2015, but a part-time employee challenged the validity of the agreement.

CORPORATES
COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, SHOP, DISTRIBUTIVE AND ALLIED EMPLOYEES’ ASSOCIATION, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION

Top court challenge for road tribunal

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Original article by Joe Kelly
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 7-Apr-16

Independent Contractors Australia (ICA) will launch legal action in a bid to overturn a Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal ruling on pay rates in the trucking industry. It will impose minimum pay rates for owner-drivers, but executive director Ken Phillips believes that the ruling is unconstitutional and constitutes price fixing on commercial contracts. He warns that the ruling would force many owner-drivers out of the industry.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. ROAD SAFETY REMUNERATION TRIBUNAL, INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS OF AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED, CHRISTOPHER LEVINGSTON AND ASSOCIATES PTY LTD, TRANSPORT WORKERS’ UNION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, NATIONAL ROAD TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION LIMITED, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Fair Work to examine penalty rates

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 16-Feb-16

Employers’ groups must make their final submissions to the Fair Work Commission’s review of penalty rates by 1 April 2016. The full bench has ruled that employers’ submissions can include the Productivity Commission’s recommendations on reducing Sunday penalty rates in industries such as retail and hospitality to bring them in line with those that apply on Saturdays. Unions’ submissions to the FWC review must be lodged by 21 March.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, BORAL LIMITED – ASX BLD

Fair Work decision exposes IR flaws: BHP

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Original article by Elizabeth Colman
The Australian – Page: 4 : 10-Feb-16

BHP Billiton has criticised the Fair Work Commission for ruling that union officials can hold meetings with employees of the Caval Ridge mine at a dragline cabin rather than the site’s meal-break room. BHP argues that the ruling will adversely affect productivity at the Queensland mine. The dragline cabins are 2.4km from the mine’s meal-break room. The Fair Work Act was amended in 2013 to specify that union officials must hold meetings in meal-break rooms.

CORPORATES
BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT

Resources companies welcome industrial relations law changes

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Original article by Joanna Mather
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 14-Oct-15

The Senate has passed amendments to the Fair Work Act which enable the Fair Work Commission to make a ruling when enterprise bargaining negotiations on new projects have been stalled for six months. The Australian Mines & Metals Association and the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association say the reforms should boost investment.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN MINES AND METALS ASSOCIATION (INCORPORATED), AUSTRALIAN PETROLEUM PRODUCTION AND EXPLORATION ASSOCIATION LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, FAMILY FIRST PARTY AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Strikers still eligible for productivity bonus

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 9 : 6-Oct-15

The full bench of the Fair Work Commission has rejected a bid by Thiess to overturn a previous ruling on the payment of a productivity bonus to coal miners who had gone on strike. The Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union had argued that workers at the Mt Owen mine in New South Wales should be entitled to the productivity-linked component of a weekly allowance, despite being on strike for three months. The union had argued that an enterprise agrement did not specify any causes for non-payment of the bonus.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, THIESS PTY LTD, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA

CFMEU safety breaches ‘neither isolated nor minor’

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Original article by Elizabeth Colman
The Australian – Page: 2 : 17-Sep-15

The construction union has been taken to court for failing to observe safety rules. Fair Work Building & Construction (FWBC) alleged in the Federal Circuit Court that union officials from the Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union breached the safety rules on numerous occasions. FWBC director Nigel Hadgkiss will talk about the case at a safety conference on 17 September 2015.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, FAIR WORK BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION, FEDERAL CIRCUIT COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Business in victory over forced leave

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 8 : 12-Jun-15

Australia’s Fair Work Commission has ruled that employers are entitled to require an employee covered by an industrial award to take annual leave if they have at least seven weeks of unused leave. Meanwhile, workers who have at least four weeks of accrued leave will be entitled to cash out two weeks’ leave. The Commission noted that cash-out provisions are included in many enterprises agreements. The ruling has been welcomed by employers’ groups, but the ACTU says it will disadvantage many people on low wages.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, ACTU, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP

Writer of accidental ‘dick’ text sacked

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 10-Apr-15

The Fair Work Commission has rejected an unfair dismissal claim brought by a woman who was sacked for insulting her employer. Louise Nesbitt inadvertently sent a derogatory text message to Dragon Mountain Gold chairman and MD Rob Garder, in which she called him a "complete dick". She had meant to send the message to her daughter’s boyfriend, who was to undertake plumbing work in the company’s office

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, DRAGON MOUNTAIN GOLD LIMITED – ASX DMG

Foul-mouthed truckie firing ‘unfair’

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Original article by Lucille Keen
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 20-Feb-15

Australia’s Fair Work Commission (FWC) has upheld an Aussie Waste Management employee’s claim that his dismissal for swearing at the managing director was unlawful. The garbage truck driver was summarily dismissed after using offensive language during a private telephone conversation with the executive. FWC deputy president Nicole Wells noted that swearing in some workplace’s is quite common in 2015, adding that the phone call was private and not overhead by other staff

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSSIE WASTE MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN HUMAN RESOURCES INSTITUTE, K&L GATES LLP