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Fair Work Australia Announces Campaign Focusing on the Structural Metal Products Industry
The Fair Work Ombudsman (the FWO), in its media release last week, announced a new campaign focussing on employers in the structural metal manufacturing industry and including companies that produce metal products used in the construction of buildings and other structures such as doors, gates, window frames, staircases, trusses, scaffolding, sheds and gutters. Initially, the campaign will have an educational focus however, in late in 2012, the FWO intends to contact a sample of approximately 250 employers nationally, requesting them to provide their employment records for audit. The FWO will be focusing on ensuring that employers are paying the correct minimum rates of pay, penalty rates, loading and allowances, as well as ensuring appropriate employment records are being maintained. In the media release (dated 13 April 2012), Nick Wilson (the FWO), stated as follows: “If inspectors find minor or inadvertent contraventions, our ...
27 April 2012Fair Work Australia Upholds Abuse of Sick Leave
In a recent decision of FWA, Commissioner McKenna found in favour of the employer when it terminated an employee who inappropriately claimed sick leave to visit her family interstate. Facts The applicant was engaged in August 2009 in an administrative role for a removalist company. The employer was a ‘small business employer’ for the purposes of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (the FW Act). The applicant and the employer were based in Sydney. On 16 October 2011, the applicant was advised that her sister was getting married on 28 October 2011. The applicant booked a flight to Perth for Wednesday 26 October 2011 and returning to Sydney on Sunday 30 October 2011 in order to attend the wedding. Although the applicant had sufficient accrued annual leave, she did not make an application for annual leave to cover her absence, despite an admission by her that the employer had been acco...
26 April 2012Steward Serves Up More Than She Bargained For ...
Fair Work Australia (FWA) has recently upheld a decision to terminate an employee due to her abusive swearing and aggressive conduct. The decision confirms the ability to terminate employees for inappropriate behaviour in certain circumstances. The applicant had been employed by Qantas since 2005 as a flight attendant and at the time of termination. The applicant had previously been in a relationship with another Qantas employee who, after terminating his relationship with the applicant, entered a new relationship with the applicant’s friend who also worked at Qantas. The relationship between the three became so strained that it culminated in the applicant’s ex-partner seeking (and being granted) a temporary protection order against the applicant. On 10 June 2010, the applicant’s manager requested that the applicant attend her office to discuss a complaint received from the new partner regarding the applicant’s behav...
16 April 2012