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Federal Court imposes penalties totalling $70,000 on Company for failing to consult
Facts In a recent Federal Court decision, the court imposed two $35,000 penalties on Airservices Australia (Airservices) for contravening section 50 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (the Act) due to Airservices failing to comply with consultation and other obligations in their enterprise agreement. The issue arose in the context of a dispute between the Civil Air Operations Officers’ Association of Australia and Airservices around the implementation of a remote overnight arrival and departure service for the Rockhampton/Mackay sector (Service) by air traffic controllers at Cairns. One of the contraventions of s. 50 of the Act arose as a consequence of Airservices developing a plan for the Service without fulfilling consultation obligations required by the enterprise agreement. Another s. 50 contravention was due to Airservices’ non-compliance with consultation obligations under th...
16 March 2023Union succeeds in two Federal Court general protections claims against host employer in labour hire scenario
In two recent Federal Court decisions, the CFMMEU has been successful in its general protections claims brought against the BHP Mitsubishi Alliance coal mine as the host employer in a labour hire scenario. The two cases are as follows: Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union v BM Alliance Coal Operations Pty Ltd (No 3) [2022] FCA 1345 (11 November 2022) (November 2022 Case); and Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union v BM Alliance Coal Operations Pty Ltd [2023] FCA 30 (30 January 2023) (January 2023 Case). The November 2022 Case In this case a labour hire employee was employed by WorkPac Pty Ltd (WorkPac). WorkPac had a commercial relationship to supply labour to BM Alliance Coal Operations Pty Ltd (BMA/the principal) at a mine. The employee exercised workplace rights whilst working at the mine where: s. 2...
15 February 2023Employee successfully obtains an injunction preventing the employer from terminating the employee’s employment
Facts The employer proposed to terminate an employee during her probation period for reasons concerning information she provided about her previous employment with another Commonwealth department and the circumstances in which she left that previous employment. The employer’s letter to the employee indicated it was considering the termination of her employment for reasons that included that in a declaration the employee made during the recruitment process for the current role, she may have provided misleading information she knew to be misleading and wilfully failed to disclose information that she knew, or ought reasonably to have known was relevant to her response to the declaration. In this Federal Court decision the Court was determining an application for interlocutory injunctive relief to prevent the termination of the employee’s employment. First, the Court considered the General Protections grounds of the employee’s c...
30 January 2023