Employers have described today's FWC decision to abolish junior rates for 18 to 20-year-olds as "disappointing" and a "financial blow", as the tribunal conceded the likelihood of a negative effect on employment of workers as businesses adjust to increased labour costs.

A jury has found a subsidiary of ASX-listed Mastermyne Group guilty of industrial manslaughter over the death of a mineworker at a Bowen Basin coal mine, in the first successful prosecution since the Queensland Government extended the laws to resources workplaces in 2020.

A FWC full bench has today rejected a union bid to improve junior rates for under-18s, but has acceded to a request to axe them for over-18s.

In a decision with potentially broad implications for NSW public sector workforce models, the State's Industrial Court has declared a long-serving Correctional Services casual a continuing employee after rejecting arguments his contractual label is decisive.

Legislation to respond to the transport fuel price crisis by enabling the FWC to fast-track road transport contractual chain order applications to lift rates for truck drivers has passed federal parliament late today.

A café owner who kissed a married 23-year-old employee on the mouth as she washed dishes has been ordered to pay $90,000 in damages and penalties, in the first concluded workplace s-xual harassment case under 2023 amendments to the Fair Work Act.

The scope of "same-job, same-pay" orders should replicate the host deal's, according to an employment and IR barrister who is urging the Albanese Government to plug a "leaking bucket", following a full court finding that the FWC should have confined its orders to a more limited cohort of on-hire workers at a Hunter Valley coal mine.

The FWC has authorised supported bargaining for cleaners at Victorian public schools, but the UWU says that the "ultimate fix" would be for the education department to directly employ them.

The Net Zero Economy Authority is seeking the second FWC just transition determination, to support workers through the closure of Australia's largest power station, while it is also consulting on closures in Western Australia.

Queensland's Crisafulli Government has launched a review of the State's IR and workers' compensation legislation, focusing on "restoring productivity to Queensland worksites", the near-doubling of psychological claims in the last five years and public sector bargaining.