Western Health and the Health Services Union have a s.739 (Application to deal with a dispute) being heard by Commissioner Cribb in Conference Room E & F – Level 6 in Melbourne at 2pm.
January 10, 2017
An application for approval of the Pulse Administrative Employees Agreement – 2016 (s.185 – Application for approval of a single-enterprise agreement) will be determined by Commissioner Gregory in his Melbourne chambers.
January 10, 2017
Close to 100 staff have been sacked from the Waikato District Health Board in the past six years, with more than 1300 disciplined. But the reasons why are unknown – and it will cost at least $38,000 to find out. An Official Information Act request revealed that 1335 DHB staff faced disciplinary action between January 2010 and August 2016. And of those that were disciplined, 97 were given the boot. The DHB’s director of people and performance, Greg Peploe, said that number is expected from an organisation with nearly 7000 staff members. “Not every one of our employees is exemplary,” Peploe said. “We have theft … it’s a large organisation.”
January 10, 2017
“Hospital specialists are saddened by the tragic death of our Whanganui Branch President Dr Chris Cresswell whilst mountain bike riding,” says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS).
January 10, 2017
An application for approval of the Medea Park Association Incorporated General Staff Enterprise Agreement 2015 (s.185 – Application for approval of a single-enterprise agreement) will be determined by Commissioner Roe in his Melbourne chambers.
January 10, 2017
Former National Union of Workers NSW leader Derrick Belan allegedly instructed an IT company to pay for his botox injections, cars and luxury rental home and then on-charge the costs to the union under the guise of IT services with an average 20 per cent mark-up. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in union members’ money are alleged to have been used in the scheme as the union forked out more than $1 million on IT services over several years. The new allegations, which were not previously uncovered by the Trade Union Royal Commission, will add to the ongoing public debate about alleged corruption within the union movement and come as the Turnbull government is preparing to introduce legislation in response to the commission’s recommendations.
January 10, 2017
Sacking a mental health nurse who “tagged” two work colleagues to a sexually offensive video on his Facebook page was too harsh, the Fair Work Commission has ruled. Commissioner Michelle Bissett found Bendigo Health Care nurse Michael Renton showed an “appalling lack of judgment” when he posted a video of an obese woman in her underwear dropping her stomach on the back of a man on all fours while saying “how heavy is that” and “a little horsey”. Mr Renton had then “tagged” two co-workers in a comment joking that the video was the male colleague “getting slammed” by the female colleague at work. That same day, Mr Renton admitted he placed five blobs of sorbolene cream and tissues on the male worker’s desk. Bendigo alleged the props were to make it look like the male worker or someone else had masturbated at his desk. The female colleague had become distressed by the post and the male colleague complained to human resources. Bendigo Health Care fired Mr Renton, who was an employee of almost 20 years, for serious misconduct. Mr Renton argued the sorbolene blobs were a practical joke and said it was not reasonable for the female colleague to be offended by the Facebook post, which he claimed was not sexually explicit. Commissioner Bissett said Mr Renton’s actions had affected the health and safety of his co-workers by exposing them to humiliation and potential ridicule at work. “His actions were crass, careless and showed an absence of judgement.” The Facebook post, which was visible “far and wide” including to at least 68 co-workers, also risked adversely affecting Bendigo Health’s reputation. The commissioner noted that once Mr Renton tagged a person on Facebook that allowed friends of the tagged person to see the post. The Facebook friends of anyone who commented could also see the post. “This consequence of posting on Facebook is so often overlooked but cannot be ignored.” It is possible to use Facebook security settings to restrict access to tagged posts but many users do not. She found that “slamming”, while not sexually explicit, had strong sexual overtones. “If the video was of a person slamming a door the context, and therefore meaning, would be quite different.” She said Mr Renton “should have listened to the voice in his head that suggested [the female colleague] might have been offended by the post and, having done so, not proceeded with the post”. “Unfortunately, he did not and the consequences for him and others are far reaching.” Mr Renton’s placing blobs of sorbolene cream on the male colleague’s desk was a “boorish” act that “compounded his Facebook misdeed”. While she accepted the male colleague had also made “crass and immature” Facebook posts , she said those were private and did not implicate the workplace or suggest sexual activity. However, she concluded that “on a fine balance” Mr Renton’s termination was “disproportionate to the gravity of the misconduct”. She noted Mr Renton had no prior history of misconduct and also shared joint care of young children including one with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. “Even though the misconduct was serious, because of its one-off nature I am not convinced that it justifies the decision to terminate Mr Renton’s employment although I can appreciate why Bendigo Health reached the conclusion it did.” Commissioner Bissett found reinstatement was “untenable” in part because Mr Renton had told the male colleague not to talk to “that red headed c— about what’s happened”, referring to Bendigo’s business unit manager. She directed him to file submissions on possible compensation.
January 10, 2017
An application for approval of the National Hearing Care (Contact Centre) Enterprise Agreement 2016 (s.185 – Application for approval of a single-enterprise agreement) will be heard by Commissioner Gregory in his Melbourne Chambers.
