Insights

CK Crouch Pty Ltd was contracted by poultry producer Baiada Poultry Pty Ltd for work at various chicken farms, including one in Lethbridge, Victoria.

When it comes to drug and alcohol policies, it has become clear there cannot be a ‘one size fits all’ approach. The policy adopted will depend on the industry, business and individual workplace.

An unnamed company has faced difficulties in having offending tweets removed. In May of this year, a Twitter user posted tweets whilst adopting the handle of the company’s chief executive.

A worker slipped and fell two meters on a work site, but failing to alert his supervisor to the unsafe working conditions resulted in him being found contributorily negligent in his own fall.

An employee of accountancy firm Crowe Horwath has been awarded almost $425,000 in damages by the Victorian Supreme Court, for the repudiation of his employment contract

The Queensland government has recently introduced a 67 page Work Health and Safety Amendment Bill so as to most notably: mandate safety measures in the WHS Codes of Practice; reintroduce the role of workplace health and safety officers; enable WHS Queensland inspectors to make on the spot determinations of WHS disputes; establish an independent statutory office for WHS prosecutions; prohibit duty holders from entering enforceable undertakings in lieu of prosecution for offences involving a fatality; and as the headline states – to introduce an industrial manslaughter offence with a 20 year jail term and $10 million in fines.

A Victorian appeals court has finally found the Victorian Civil Administration Tribunal decision in dismissing a worker’s equal opportunity claim to be erroneous, and has granted the depressed worker a right to argue for a new recourse at a full hearing.

In a recent case1 before the Supreme Court at Brisbane, an Anglican Community Services Organisation was found to have been negligent by failing to train an employee to safely unload a wheelie walker from a vehicle.

The force of religious laws within employment contracts have recently been reaffirmed by the New South Wales Supreme Court.

A former nursing director of the Cape York Health Service has been awarded $1.7 million in damages, after maltreatment from her district CEO forced the employee into medical retirement.

A former general manager has recently been awarded compensation for brain damage and other workplace injuries, after he self-medicated with alcohol in order to deal with the stress of employees taking advantage of the workers’ compensation system.

An unreasonably conducted ‘counselling session’ for a psychologically injured Australian Federal Police worker has resulted in compensation and costs awarded.