The Productivity Commission has warned against "shoehorning" gig economy platform work into other employment categories, arguing it could jeopardise their benefits for consumers and workers.
The FWC has renewed entry permits for three CFMMEU officials, but has made them conditional on them not exercising specific entry powers designed to protect textile, clothing and footwear workers, unless they complete further training.
A FWC full bench has concluded that part-day public holidays schedules rapidly inserted into more than 100 awards a decade ago serve no practical purpose, giving parties until October 21 to argue why they should not be deleted.
The FWC will review superannuation clauses in more than 100 awards over concerns that they could conflict with last year's legislative changes to "stapled" funds and underperforming products.
A new report says that wage theft in Australian freight shipping is costing seafarers about $65 million a year and necessitates changes to the Fair Work Act and greater powers and cooperation for regulators.
A long-serving former employee of a company that deliberately restructured to offload severance obligations onto the publicly-funded FEG scheme has had his redundancy payout substantially increased, after the AAT ruled that a "grand chapel" deal with the AMWU "grandfathered" generous provisions in an earlier enterprise agreement.
With the finish line in sight for the FWC's seven-year "plain language" transformation of its 120-plus modern awards, a full bench says the process is nevertheless an "ongoing exercise" and parties can seek at any time to address ambiguities and uncertainties in the instruments.
Platform companies Deliveroo, Menulog and Uber say they are embracing the Federal Government's consultations on the introduction of national minimum IR standards for the gig economy, but insist any changes must be tailor-made and leave room for choice.
A law firm found to have breached the Legal Profession Act when estimating costs says it will challenge a 25% deduction to the sum it claims after settling one of several no win, no fee retail workers' class actions, arguing also that proposed exemptions for litigation funding schemes are unlikely to improve the plight of those who are underpaid.
The ACTU has urged One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts to abandon his private member's bill that seeks to have labour hire workers under certain awards paid the same as those directly-employed and to instead try to achieve his aims through the "same job, same pay" provisions in Labor's promised legislative amendments.
