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The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has awarded a Western Australian employee the equivalent of six months’ wages compensation after finding her dismissal on the basis of her vaccination status was unfair, with her employer rapidly conceding during formal proceedings that it incorrectly deemed a State Government issued COVID-19 vaccination mandate applied to her employment.

A security worker, identified only as ‘Employee X’, has successfully lobbied the Fair Work Commission (FWC) to have the 2013 enterprise agreement that captured their employment cancelled, even though many of the employee’s nearly 500 co-workers argued they would end up considerably worse off if they were instead subject to the relevant modern award.

The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has upheld the dismissal of a Victorian employee who was “persistently” late during her four years of employment and categorically refused to use the designated time-clocking system, finding her disclosure in pre-Hearing and under cross-examination that she was not vaccinated against COVID-19, despite having furnished her employer with a vaccination certificate in November 2021 which indicated she had received two doses of an approved vaccine, provided an additional valid reason for termination, “which would have warranted summary dismissal”.

The Fair Work Commission (FWC) continues to work through the influx of unfair dismissal claims stemming from state vaccine mandates. 

Continue reading “‘Largely Incomprehensible’: Fair Work Commission Continues to Grapple with Vaccine Mandate Dismissals”

The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has awarded an increase of 5.2% to the national minimum wage which will take the rate to $812.60 per week or $21.38 per hour. Minimum award wages will also increase by $40 per week for those rates under $869.60 per week. For minimum award wages over $869.60, a 4.6% increase will apply.

Continue reading “2021-22 Annual Wage Review Decision”

Following on from last year’s increase in occupational superannuation to 10%, employers are reminded that the minimum rate for contributions will increase again, to 10.5%, from 1 July 2022. In addition, the commencement of the 2022-23 financial year will also see the minimum monthly threshold for superannuation contributions scrapped, for all employees aged 18 years old and over.

As is the case every year, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) is preparing to issue its Annual Wage Review decision in June, with the formal consultation process having commenced months ago.

Since Christmas 2021, the Fair Work Commission has issued dozens of decisions determining the merits of unfair dismissal applications pursued by employees who have been terminated for non-compliance with COVID-19 vaccination mandates in their workplace. To date, only one applicant has had success convincing the Commission his dismissal was unfair, but he was unable to secure either reinstatement or compensation as remedy, achieving an outcome described as a “pyrrhic victory”.

A Gold Coast bus driver has won reinstatement and compensation for seven months’ lost wages following her dismissal in September 2021, in which her employer wrongly accused her of threatening behaviour towards a passenger who told her to “f*** off, Karen”, when she requested that he “put his face mask on properly” after the passenger boarded the bus wearing a mask pulled down under his chin, failed to pay his fare, and sat in the seats reserved for passengers with a disability.