An employer has been ordered to pay nearly $12,000 to a worker it sacked for breaching its drug and alcohol policy, after the Fair Work Commission found it unfairly gave him a first and final warning for failing to tag-out a machine eight months earlier.
Former OHS and IR lawyer Michaelia Cash will oversee Comcare, Safe Work Australia and the model WHS laws after being appointed Employment Minister, while Senator Eric Abetz used his final days in the role to add drug testing requirements to the Commonwealth Building Code.
A Fair Work Commission full bench has upheld an employer's right to test workers' urine and saliva under its new drug testing regime, despite accepting a union's claim that urine tests can capture workers who aren't impaired.
In this article, an organisational psychologist explains how a supervisor trained in psychological warning signs potentially saved a worker's life by encouraging him to access his employee assistance program.
Employers should introduce special policies, and provide workers with access to training, counselling and treatment, to tackle the "extremely high costs" of drug and alcohol-related absenteeism, Australian researchers have recommended.
A deceased worker's estate has been awarded $480,000 in death benefits, after a commission rejected his employer's claim that his use of illegal drugs contributed to the vehicle incident that killed him.
The death of a worker who accidentally overdosed on painkillers has prompted a coroner to recommend employers provide better support to employees with health problems.
A major law firm has outlined the key issues that the COAG review of the model WHS Act is likely to - or should - address in the coming months, as well as its "top 10" most important employment-related court and tribunal decisions for 2014-15.
An apprentice who has a 70 per cent whole person impairment as a result of being engulfed in flames at a work birthday party, where a large amount of free alcohol was supplied, has successfully sued his employer.
