Employers have described today's FWC decision to abolish junior rates for 18 to 20-year-olds as "disappointing" and a "financial blow", as the tribunal conceded the likelihood of a negative effect on employment of workers as businesses adjust to increased labour costs.
FWC-ordered minimum wage increases play a "critical role" in "reducing entrenched, intersectional wage inequality" for Aboriginal workers, who are more likely to be award-reliant, the Centre for Indigenous People and Work says in what is likely the first annual wage review submission to focus solely on First Nations workers.
The ACTU is seeking a 5% rise in award rates and the federal minimum wage to keep pace with cost-of-living pressures "that have gotten a lot tougher" with the fuel price rises from the Middle East war and interest rate hikes.
A full Federal Court has confirmed that homecare, disability and social workers should not be paid penalty rates for shifts immediately before or after sleepovers, four months after the FWC made draft award variations that will achieve the opposite.
The SDA is urging McDonald's to settle major rest breaks cases ahead of a lengthy hearing, as KFC and its franchisees agree to pay about $29 million to resolve a similar class action accusing them of denying proper breaks to tens of thousands of workers.
In a significant judgment on tertiary education sector pay, a full Federal Court has today found that under the academic staff award, a casual lecturer should have been paid for time spent marking assessments not directly related to particular lectures or tutorials.
A rope access technician has been ordered to pay $125,000 in costs after pursuing a failed underpayments and discrimination case described by the judge as "a textbook example of launching an action without reasonable cause".
The RBA had no obligation to pay a senior employee during a seven-month period when he claimed to be "ready and willing" to work as long as it did not involve consecutive days, "high stress" assignments or meeting with HR, the FWC has found.
A small business and its owner have been hit with fines, compensation and damages totalling more than $300,000 after the "deplorable" exploitation of a young worker with an intellectual disability who went almost two years without being paid.
