The FWC is likely tomorrow to extend COVID-19 flexibilities in the clerical award until the end of March, after the ACTU agreed not to oppose the move, while unions and employers are continuing to negotiate on proposed "enduring" working from home provisions.
A five-member FWC full bench has today given any objectors until Monday to respond to its "provisional view" that it should extend COVID-19 paid pandemic leave provisions in three major health awards for five months.
ACTU secretary Sally McManus is hopeful that agreement can be reached on a legal definition of casual employees, despite the Morrison Government's IR working groups ending with recriminations between union and employer groups.
The FWC has used the further extension of COVID-19-related flexibilities in the clerks award to advance its campaign for enduring changes in working-from-home arrangements, calling on employers and unions to report back on possible variations to address the issue by early next month.
The FWC has extended COVID-19 flexibility clauses in 74 modern awards until the end of March, while employers are proposing to follow the same path for the clerical award in the face of union opposition.
A majority of employer organisations have heatedly rejected a joint position agreed between the Business Council of Australia and the ACTU over changes to the law covering agreement-making, while IR Minister Christian Porter says discussions are continuing and that differences of opinion should come as no surprise.
A $5 an hour "COVID-19 care allowance" for disability workers attending to self-isolated and quarantining clients is unnecessary and likely to trigger a push to insert it into other health sector and aged care awards, according to an FWC full bench.
The FWC has given any objectors a week to put their views on extending special coronavirus-driven flexibilities in 71 modern awards until the end of March, when the JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme ends.
A long-serving pilot thought to have spent more than $13,500 contesting his redundancy has been awarded compensation of one week's pay, after the FWC held it was not genuine due to a lack of consultation.
