The FWC's annual wage review expert panel has today granted a below-inflation 4.75% rise in all award rates, after "regrettably" concluding it would not be "practicable or responsible" to order a larger increase in the current "uncertain" economic conditions.
Extra time for Wood inquiry into CFMEU; Gender undervaluation boost now in October; Migrant Workers Centre launched in NSW; and FWC Bulletin final edition.
A former FWO chief counsel-turned judge has taken an axe to the workplace regulator's belief in penalties as a general deterrent, expressing astonishment at its "staggering" pursuit of a $21,000 fine against an employer who quickly coughed up a $976 underpayment once a junior worker provided proof of their age.
A Federal Court majority has quashed a finding that the Black Coal Award requires BHP's Operations Services in-house labour hire arm to give its workforce two common public holidays off each year, and to cap shifts at 10 hours unless most employees agree to additional hours at overtime rates.
New ACTU pitch for vehicle allowances; Delayed CPI move for expense-related allowances; Further reporting extension for WFH inquiry; and Labour law conference seeking papers.
The Ai Group is asking the FWC's expert panel to restrict pay rises for minimum wage and award-reliant workers to an inflation-lagging 3.9%, branding the ACTU's revised claim for a 6% increase "reckless".
The ACTU has upped the pay rise it is seeking in the annual wage review from 5% to 6% in response to inflationary pressures flowing from the Middle East war.
Speakers at an IR conference have emphasised the importance of early, transparent consultations when introducing automation and AI-related change, but a lawyer says locking into a formal process too soon is risky.
In what the NTEU has called a "new low" in tertiary education sector underpayment cases, Torrens University is seeking permission from the High Court to challenge last month's full court finding that casual academics should be paid for marking assessments not directly related to particular lectures or tutorials.
A NSW IRC full bench will on Thursday decide public sector nurses' special case bid for a 35% pay rise, while the state union's employees will get a 5% increase and a one-off "cost of living allowance" under a proposed agreement variation.
