DEWR is consulting on potential changes to the Fair Entitlements Guarantee, after finding an increasing number of companies are deliberately using the scheme, designed as a "last resort", to avoid their obligations.
After the UFU refused to comply with a FWC order to hand over a trust deed for an income protection scheme, the Federal Court has also ordered the union to produce the document.
Corruption investigator Geoffrey Watson SC is recommending a criminal trial against ousted CFMEU construction and general division NSW branch secretary Darren Greenfield and civil proceedings against his leadership team and a lawyer over an alleged "extraordinary" transfer of $3 million to help him and his son defend "minor" charges.
Major employer and industry organisations have lodged a last-minute protest with the FWC's president about potential changes to model consultation clauses in agreements, claiming they too closely resemble an ACTU proposal that would substantially curtail management prerogative.
Low uptake of family and domestic violence leave might be explained by a number of "significant, complex" barriers that employers can address, including a lack of manager training on how to help workers to access the entitlement, a new study has found.
The FWC has backed a school's refusal to let a coordinator perform her executive role part-time for the first two terms when she returns from parental leave, supporting its offer of a lower-paying teacher position and noting it is not simply "serving customers who are buying widgets".
The FWC has rejected an employer's bid to avoid paying redundancy entitlements to a nurse who refused to transfer to a higher-paying, non-nursing "technician" role.
A DEWR review of the procedures available for small claims of up to $100,000 recommends legislative change to enable successful applicants to win costs and an automatic exemption from filing fees in some circumstances, while it also canvasses establishing a small claims jurisdiction within the FWC or creating an industrial court.
Ahead of a 10-day full bench hearing of a bid to significantly shake-up the retail award, the ACTU has hit out at employers backing measures to "buy-out" core conditions for workers on as little as $53,680 a year, ditch "smokos" and introduce split shifts.
