NEWS-HR

Healthscope Operations Pty Ltd T/A Healthscope has had its HEALTHSCOPE – VICTORIA – HEALTH PROFESSIONALS – ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 2015-2019 approved by Fair Work Deputy President Hamilton in Melbourne on 16 September.

TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT – extension of time – ss.394, 400, 604 Fair Work Act 2009 – permission to appeal – Full Bench – application for permission to appeal – at first instance Commission refused extension of time to lodge application for unfair dismissal remedy and dismissed application – appellant contended that Commission did not properly consider all exceptional circumstances that attended dismissal – Full Bench not satisfied Commission made errors of fact alleged in notice of appeal – COmmission properly took into account and gave due consideration to all matters raised by appellant – not satisfied it would be in the public interest to grant permission to appeal – permission to appeal refused. Appeal by Ann Robertson against decision of Watson SDP of 17 June 2015 [[2015] FWC 3973] Re: Peninsula Health t/a Frankston Hospital.

The Health Services Union is poised to rejoin the Labor Party in NSW, a move that could bolster the waning power of Bill Shorten’s right-wing faction but also embarrass the Labor leader ahead of a federal election. After four years in political exile, the leader of the HSU’s NSW branch will push to re-affiliate with Labor as early as December. NSW is the HSU’s biggest branch.

Further charges are to be laid against a woman accused to falsifying her qualifications to work in nursing roles, a South Australian court has heard. Jennifer Anne Reed, 65, is currently facing 20 courts related to allegedly working unregistered as a health professional and a further six counts of deception. She is being prosecuted by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency and the Director of Public Prosecutions, who claim she falsified qualifications to work as a registered nurse and director at aged care facilities.

The union corruption royal commission is re-examining the actions of disgraced ex-union bosses Kathy Jackson and Craig Thomson. The royal commission is calling for submissions from “affected parties” as part of a probe into the Health Services Union, from which both misappropriated money.

The nurse who discovered a dementia patient bloodied in his bed at a Canberra nursing home did not think to check if he was still alive, the ACT Coroner’s Court has heard. Charles McCulloch, 94, was found beaten in his bed a day after he was moved into the high-needs dementia ward at the Jindalee Aged Care Residence in Narrabundah in January 2012.

Fair Work Commission president Iain Ross has been accused of ostracising dissenters on the tribunal, resulting in decisions weighted in favour of unions. Brendan McCarthy, who was a commission deputy president for 13 years until he retired last December, said Justice Ross ensured a “small core of favoured persons” were appointed to full benches determining important matters.

An application for approval of the RSL LifeCare, NSWNMA and HSU NSW Enterprise Agreement 2015-2017 is before Fair Work Commissioner Simpson in Brisbane.