Fortnightly Newsletter
Workplace Law is ever-changing, whether through decisions of the courts and commissions or changes to the many pieces of State and Federal legislation that regulate the relationship between Employee and Employer. We’ve put together this fortnightly update to assist by giving you easy to understand snapshots of some of the recent changes that affects Employers.
Labor to establish a new Fair Work Court
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced Labor’s plans to establish a new Fair Work Court, to deal with underpaid wage claims and ‘other disputes’ (including potentially general protections claims) in what the government says will provide workers with a faster and cheaper solution for these claims.
The Court is intended to operate alongside but separate from the FWC, headed by judges with workplace related expertise. The Court’s overarching objective is to combat scenarios where the cost of a worker bringing a case is more expensive than what their claim is worth, as the Prime Minister says there are ‘too many vulnerable workers being illegally paid because they cannot access or afford the justice they are owed… that is wrong… we are going to fix it’.
Unions have welcomed the announcement having long sought the establishment of such a court. Business groups have expressed concern that any new court will be ‘stacked’ with union/employee friendly judges, and that a specialist court separate from the existing Court system risks decisions becoming divorced from principles in modern awards that apply to Australian employers.
Combatting AI: ‘An exercise in futility’
The unprecedented use of AI to assist applicants in making claims to the Fair Work Commission (FWC), has pushed the Commission’s average clearance rate from 4 weeks to more than 6 weeks. With unsophisticated users of the technology posing the biggest challenges.
Since March 2023, the FWC’s caseload has increased by 72%, driven primarily by the increase in self-represented applicants with unrealistic expectations of their prospects, due to overly positive AI-generated responses.
When asked how the FWC planned to combat AI from affecting its operations, general manager Murray Furlong labelled this ‘an exercise in futility’.
Source: Content based on Victorian IR Society’s “Taming AI” Zoom based forum on June 10, 2026.
FWC takes a simpler approach to abandonment case
The FWC found an employee was dismissed by an employer unable to get in touch with the employee who its assumed had abandoned his employment. The employee was sent home after a complaint was made against, and then him failed to attend work for several weeks without explanation. He was unresponsible to several attempts to contact him, including the employer’s notification to him that if it did not hear from him within 5 working days, it would assume he had ‘abandoned his employment’. The employee claimed he did not see the correspondence until after the deadline expired and brought a general protections claim under the Fair Work Act 2009.
The FWC found the employees repeated failure to communicate with his former employer did not amount to abandonment, and that he had been dismissed as the employment relationship would have continued if the employer had not taken the action it did.
Source: Mr Md Abdullah Haque v dnata Airport Services Pty Ltd [2026] FWC 1698 (11 May 2026).
Allan Government introduces WFH legislation just in time for State election
Victoria has introduced legislation allowing employees to work from home (WFH) 2 days per week under the Equal Opportunity Act 2010, almost a year after the plan was first announced. The legislation, introduced by the Allan Government, is anticipated to take effect on September 1, 2026, for non-small businesses, whilst workplaces with fewer than 15 employees will not be affected until July 1 next year.
The WFH entitlement will extend to casual and part-time workers, with further detail on how the pro-rata arrangements will operate yet to be released. The entitlements are set to take effect just ahead of the State election in November.
Source: Equal Opportunity Amendment (Work from Home) Bill 2026
We hope you have enjoyed this fortnight’s employment law news. See you next fortnight!
