A Federal Court judge has while fining a franchisor almost $500,000 for deliberately underpaying Taiwanese interns speculated that a recent High Court ruling will impel more parties to agree on penalties rather than go to trial, an "unfortunate by-product" being fewer judgments offering "yardsticks" for future cases.
While the Albanese Government remains hopeful it can make multi-employer bargaining changes more palatable to win Senate support, a labour law expert says onerous requirements will limit the effectiveness of the expanded single-interest stream.
The Albanese Government will today table its foreshadowed amendments to the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill, as it seeks to provide "more comfort" to key Independent Senator David Pocock on proposed multi-employer bargaining reforms.
The aged care case full bench has late this afternoon accepted the work value grounds for lifting pay for "direct care" workers in the sector, awarding them an interim 15% rise.
A FWC full bench has lashed energy giant Woodside for its "impertinent" suggestion that a senior tribunal member should have supplied evidence that directions she issued while considering an AWU majority support bid, came from a Commission template.
New Zealand's Ardern Labour Government is preparing for the introduction of occupational and industry-wide bargaining from December 1 after the passage of the landmark Fair Pay Agreements Bill last week.
In a significant ruling on supposed 'cancel culture', a court has found a leading sandstone university and its former deputy vice chancellor breached an agreement's intellectual freedom clause when the institution sacked a lecturer for superimposing a swastika on a posted image of an Israeli flag.
The "lawlessness test" that is likely to prevent unions such as the CFMMEU from engaging in multi-employer bargaining could be made more specific after discussions with employers and unions, according to Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke.
The Albanese Government's IR legislation provides "big improvements" in the bargaining framework for low-paid workers, but the benefits of the multi-employer provisions might be more limited, according to a leading workplace law expert.
The Albanese Government's first major tranche of IR legislation beefs-up workers' rights to secure flexible working arrangements and empowers the FWC to arbitrate if conciliation of a refused request fails.
