A s.185 (Enterprise agreement) application from Australian Red Cross T/A Australian Red Cross Blood Service for the Australian Red Cross Blood Service Enterprise Agreement Queensland 2017 has been agreed by Fair Work Commissioner Lee in Melbourne on 30 October 2018.
November 1, 2018
A s.394 (Unfair dismissal) claim by Sharon Hall citing Michael Bordingnon T/A Northern Myotherapy has been rejected by Fair Work Deputy President Gostencnik in Sydney on 31 October 2018.
November 1, 2018
The Australian Municipal, Administrative, Clerical and Services Union and Uniting (Victoria & Tasmania) Limited have a s.739 (Application to deal with a dispute) on foot before Commissioner Harper-Greenwell in Court 5 and Conference Room D – Level 6 in Melbourne.
November 1, 2018
A northern Victorian taxi driver who drove his car into a minibus, fatally injuring three Shepparton nursing home residents and injuring nine others, has been found guilty of dangerous driving charges. A jury has convicted Kialla taxi driver Jatinder Panesar of three charges of dangerous driving causing death, and two of dangerous driving causing serious injury. The minibus, which was carrying 12 passengers from a Shepparton nursing home, rolled after the collision at the intersection of Pyke and Turnbull roads at Ardmona in June 2017. Valerie McCubbin, 80, died at the scene, and two other residents, Doreen Emmanuelli, 95, and Theresa Tyndall, 91, later died in hospital. Panesar, 39, pleaded not guilty to six charges of dangerous driving causing death and dangerous driving causing serious injury. He was found not guilty of causing serious injury to Marion Gelatly who sustained retinal bleeding and multiple fractures to the face. Panesar has been remanded in custody and will appear in court again today for sentencing.
November 1, 2018
A registered nurse who was sacked for selling vaccines belonging to her employer, administering them to paying customers and pocketing the payments, has been banned for two years. In a hearing before the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal, Tracey Anne Margaret Everett admitted to professional misconduct and was banned from applying for nursing registration for two years. While employed by the Travel Clinic, Ms Everett attended various workplaces in mid-2011 primarily to offer flu vaccines but also offered additional vaccines such as Gardasil, Boostrix, Adacel and Hepatitis A and B vaccines to employees. During her onsite visits, she requested payment for the additional vaccines be made either in cash or by direct deposit into a bank account. QCAT heard Ms Everett received payments totalling $8844.30 and was dismissed by the company, which claimed she had “stolen vaccinations and misappropriated payments” belonging to it. Police executed a search warrant at her home where they found a cash receipt book showing receipts that had been issued to Travel Clinic clients where the money was never received by the company. While Ms Everett was not formally charged with an offence at the time, she repaid the money to the company without any admission of wrongdoing. Throughout a lengthy investigation by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency into her conduct, Ms Everett maintained her denial, only admitting to the allegations in the referral in a filing dated May 12, 2017. In her ruling, QCAT acting president Suzanne Sheridan said her actions were “… an intricate and sophisticated scheme involving the customers and patients of the practice”. “… The [Nursing and Midwifery] board referred to the maintenance of her complete denial until just prior to the commencement of the trial,” Justice Sheridan said. “The board says there is very little evidence before the tribunal which is indicative of any remorse and insight into the offending conduct. “… Further, the board says the reimbursement of [money] to her employer cannot be treated as evidence of remorse in circumstances where Ms Everett continued to maintain her denial up until shortly before the matter was due to come on for hearing.” The tribunal ordered Ms Everett’s registration be cancelled from November 26, 2018, and remain disqualified from applying from registration for two years. Ms Everett was also ordered to pay costs given that her conduct in the proceedings had “undoubtedly complicated and protracted the litigation and significantly increased the cost of the litigation”, Justice Sheridan said.
November 1, 2018
A doctor accused of raping a patient has been granted bail and barred from entering Townsville for any reason other than attending court. The doctor, who cannot be named for legal reasons, faces 25 charges, including eight counts of rape, two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm, four counts of common assault, threatening violence, wilful damage and perverting the course of justice. One of the rape charges relates to an incident in 2012 where it will be alleged the doctor inserted his fingers into a woman’s vagina while she was in a consultation room at a Townsville medical centre. The other seven rape charges stem from complaints from another woman. It will also be alleged the doctor attempted to intimidate a witness into withdrawing a complaint against him, which led to him being charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice. He has been in custody since his arrest on March 24 this year and has twice been denied bail, most recently on April 30 when Townsville Supreme Court Justice David North ruled the man too great a risk of reoffending. However, appearing before Townsville Supreme Court again yesterday, the doctor was successful in obtaining bail.
November 1, 2018
A Gold Coast financial adviser and accountant has been jailed for more than two years after a Federal investigation found he misused about $800,000 of client funds. Reedy Creek man Satvir Singh Birk, 42, was today sentenced in the Southport District Court to two and a half years imprisonment, following an Australian Securities and Investment Commission investigation. Birk pleaded guilty in May to five counts of dishonestly using his position as director of The Carter Group with the intention of gaining an advantage, for himself or others, in the amount of approximately $800,000. The charges related to conduct ASIC said occurred between September 2010 and October 2011, while Birk was an authorised representative of Professional Investment Services and a director of the Carter Group, which is now in external administration and was an authorised representative of PIS. ASIC alleged that Birk caused unauthorised cheques to be drawn from his clients’ superannuation accounts and deceived some clients about what their withdrawn super funds were being used for. ASIC said Birk also deceived another client over what price units in an unlisted investment scheme had been sold for and used some of the proceeds to benefit his father. The regulator alleged Birk misled clients about value and other details of units they had purchased in an investment scheme. ASIC Commissioner Danielle Press described the adviser’s actions as “dishonest and betrayed the trust of his clients”. “Today’s decision shows this type of behaviour will be met with serious consequences,” she said. Birk, who was permanently banned from providing financial services last July, will be released after serving four months on a two-and-a-half year, $10,000 good behaviour bond.
October 31, 2018
Institute for Aboriginal Development (Aboriginal Corporation) will defend a s.394 (Application for unfair dismissal remedy) in front of Commissioner Wilson in his Melbourne chambers (Lerossignol).
