CASE PROCEDURES – appeals – s.604 Fair Work Act 2009 – permission to appeal – Full Bench – appeal against decision that applicant was casually employed and not dismissed by respondent – Commissioner found lack of work due to work going to another agency and not due to a complaint made by the appellant – appellant alleged significant error of fact and that appeal enlivened public interest grounds – appellant’s outline of submissions focused on a number of points in transcript – appeal seemed to have been initiated to rerun the case as applicant was dissatisfied with decision at first instance – Full Bench held that it is not in the public interest to grant permission to appeal – permission to appeal refused. Appeal by Rennie against decision of Booth C given in transcript on 10 February 2017 Re: Demjet P/L (in Liquidation) formerly t/a Just Better Care Brisbane East
May 2, 2017
ENTERPRISE AGREEMENTS – dispute about matter arising under agreement – ss.604, 739 Fair Work Act 2009 – appeal – Full Bench – at first instance the Commission issued a decision that documents provided to Ms Puata and Ms West by the appellant did not satisfy the requirements of Clause 9.3(b) of the Bupa Care Services, NSWNMA, ANMF (NSW Branch) and HSU NSW Branch, New South Wales Enterprise Agreement 2013 (Agreement) – the appellant sought permission to appeal – primary submission was that the Commission erred in construing meaning of clauses 9 and 24 in accordance with terms and in context of the Agreement as a whole – Full Bench was satisfied the dispute was matter of public interest and granted permission to appeal – satisfied that the appellant was able to change Ms Puata’s roster without reaching agreement in writing with her and that alterations to her hours of work must be agreed to in writing pursuant to Clause 9.3(c) – not satisfied that the manner in which the appellant reached agreement with Ms West in relation to reducing her hours of work and rostering arrangements contravened the Agreement – appeal in relation to both Ms Puata and Ms West upheld. Appeal by Bupa Care Services P/L against decision of Johns C of 25 November 2016 [[2016] FWC 8508] Re: New South Wales Nurses and Midwives’ Association
May 2, 2017
Foreign nurses who barely spoke English and had no psychiatric experience lacked the skills to work at Oakden’s mental health facility, former workers claim. Former psychiatric nurses said staff shortages, lack of maintenance and management issues plaguing the Older Persons Mental Health Service at Oakden go as far back as 2000.
May 2, 2017
The s.185 (Enterprise agreement) application by The Salvation Army (Queensland) Property Trust atf The Social Work T/A The Salvation Army Australia Eastern Territory for its Salvation Army Queensland Social Services – Nurse Enterprise Agreement 2016 has been ratified by Fair Work Commissioner Johns sitting in Melbourne on 28 April 2017.
May 2, 2017
Nurses are calling for the State Government to provide free blood tests amid revelations excess lead levels were last month found in water within the QEII Medical Centre, including Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. Australian Nurses Federation WA State secretary Mark Olson today said he had been repeatedly contacted by nurses concerned for their own safety and the safety of their patients at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital.
May 2, 2017
A s.185 (Enterprise agreement) application by Lifehouse Australia as trustee for Lifehouse Australia Trust for its Lifehouse Medical Physicists Agreement 2017 has been approved by Commissioner Johns in Melbourne on 28 April 2017.
May 2, 2017
The head of a federal aged care inspection agency says he wants answers as to how his organisation allowed the Oakden mental health facility in Adelaide to continue operating following an audit. The Australian Aged Care Quality Agency accredited the Makk and McLeay aged care home in February last year. This month, the South Australian Government announced the facility would be shut down after an investigation uncovered mistreatment of patients dating back a number of years. The agency’s chief executive, Nick Ryan, visited the home on Thursday and said it was one of the “poorest examples” of nursing homes he had experienced. “I’m deeply concerned by what I observed [on Thursday],” he said.
May 2, 2017
Two nurses who dragged an elderly woman’s cold, lifeless body from a nursing home fountain in a bid to cover up a potential drowning have been given a slap on the wrist. Lea Sanchez was this week let off with a caution, and Catherine Condon will be back at work within three months after being suspended. She must also undertake an ethics and record-keeping education program. They were found to have covered up crucial details about a 76-year-old woman’s death in May 2011 from her family, police, doctors and other staff. The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal found Ms Condon and Ms Sanchez guilty of professional misconduct after being told the elderly woman was left lying dead in the fountain for almost an hour before she was discovered by the nurses. The media has been gagged from printing the name of the five-star aged-care facility, where the woman was “found lying face down in a fountain”, for legal reasons. Ms Condon instructed Ms Sanchez and other staff to move the 76-year-old dementia sufferer from the fountain to her room, dry her body, dress her and put her in bed. Barrister Rachel Ellyard, who was representing the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, told VCAT: “In the immediate aftermath of (the woman) being found, no full account of the circumstances of her being found were given to relevant people.” Ms Condon and Ms Sanchez knowingly faked the victim’s medical reports and did not tell the woman’s family or her doctor how she had really died in the fountain. Night staff were told the woman, who also cannot be named for legal reasons, died of a heart attack in the courtyard. Police and the Coroner were only told of the accidental death when a carer, who first saw the woman in the fountain from a window above, suspected a cover-up. The carer was sacked the next day. It was only after CCTV footage was discovered by authorities that the truth was revealed, and triggered a coronial inquest, which found Ms Condon the “leader in the cover-up”. The pair has continued to work in aged care since the cover-up. In his findings, senior VCAT member Ian Proctor said Ms Condon hid the details from police. Victoria Police confirmed neither Ms Sanchez nor Ms Condon had received any criminal charges over the matter, which has taken almost six years to be brought before VCAT
