A FWC full bench has won support from unions and employers for suggested variations to casual employment clauses in awards to avoid friction with Closing Loopholes changes that take effect next month, although the Ai Group has raised a "related issue" it contends needs to be resolved as part of the case.
Four weeks ahead of employees winning a legislated right to disconnect, public service employers have been told they will need to train HR professionals and managers about the interaction of the new entitlement with general protections laws and consider updating job descriptions to ensure they "accurately reflect" expectations about after-hours contact.
A five-member FWC full bench has wound up its "targeted" review of modern awards with a report acknowledging that while a "lack of consensus" meant it could not determine key issues, it will now kickstart consideration of six "priority" matters that include simplifying the retail award, developing a working-from-home term in the clerks award and reviewing fixed-term contract provisions in higher education awards.
Wilson Security unlawfully denied a FIFO guard proper breaks within roster cycles and made him work an extra 15 unpaid minutes for "handover" at the start of each shift, a court has held, but a manager who reinforced the requirement was not an accessory.
Parties involved in the FWC's consideration of gender undervaluation in five care and community sector awards will have a chance to agree on a methodology for assessing work value at a conference next Monday.
A five-member FWC full bench has decided work value pay rises of up to 28.5% for aged care workers should be staggered, with many to receive half their increase from January and the second half from next October.
FWC President Adam Hatcher will conduct a directions hearing on Friday to consider an SDA bid to lift award junior rates for under-18 workers and abolish them altogether for those 18 and above, with the union arguing that age should not be a criterion for setting pay.
FWC President Adam Hatcher has expressed concern about possible confusion arising from the inclusion in all awards of the new right to disconnect outside of working hours, when some awards "specifically contemplate" out-of-hours contact.
A company did not sack a worker for alleged safety breaches and unprofessional behaviour, but rather took unlawful adverse action when it decided to dismiss him because its national HR manager took his queries about pay and flexible work as "badgering" and harassment, a court has ruled.
A senior lawyer says finance sector employers should "urgently review" their employment agreements after a finding that a commission-based advisor is award-covered and that a leading wealth management company cannot use those payments to offset his entitlements.
