The NTEU is calling for the FWO's "anti-wage theft model" to be rolled out nationally, after Sydney University entered an enforceable undertaking to make up more than $23 million in underpayments to more than 14,000 workers and Melbourne University did the same, for denying more than 25,000 workers a total of $72 million.
The Albanese Government's 10-day paid family and domestic violence leave entitlement is "appropriate and sufficient" and the scheme is operating as intended, but poor awareness and evidentiary requirements are preventing its full utilisation, according to the report of an independent review, tabled in federal parliament today.
The Fair Work Ombudsman is taking a labour hire company to court for unlawfully deducting $500 fines from migrant workers' pay when they breached its drug and alcohol policy.
The FWC has found that a worker failed to establish an "objective rational connection" between her age and her flexible working request, after she resisted ANZ's hybrid working policy and asked to work 100% from home because of her fear of catching COVID-19.
The Federal Court has imposed a record penalty on a sushi restaurant chain to "disabuse" employers of the notion that penalties for underpayments are "an acceptable cost of doing business" and recommended that the Fair Work Ombudsman refer its chief executive's potential flouting of tax and migration laws to the ATO, Department of Home Affairs and ASIC.
The ACTU is recommending the FWC include more "practical detail" in its draft "right to disconnect" award term, to "spell out" what the Commission will consider when it determines whether or not a refusal is unreasonable and is also proposing a review in 12 months.
The proposed "right to disconnect" modern award clause is "mostly suitable", but should clarify that the entitlement is a "workplace right" within the meaning of the Fair Work Act's general protections provisions and specify the dispute resolution procedure to follow, an employment and contract law academic says.
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.
The FAAA has extended the tentacles of its SJSP test case against Qantas labour suppliers, bringing an application against a third labour hire company, while the parallel test case against BHP Coal has been pushed back after unions sought extra time for their submissions.