The FWC has upheld a worker's flexible work request after his employer ended an informal 13-year arrangement, in a decision reaffirming the precedence of the NES, even when it is inconsistent with the terms of an enterprise agreement.
The Greens have launched a four-day work week election policy under which it would fund a new national institute to coordinate industry trials, while the FWC today starts hearing an ARA bid to have a compressed-hours four-day work week included in Australia's most broadly used award, along with a host of other changes.
Nine in 10 women responding to a major CPSU survey say it is "very important" to be able to work from home and those who do are more likely to be satisfied with their work-life balance, while the ACTU says Coalition plans to force public servants back to the office if it wins government will hurt productivity and women's job opportunities.
The FWC has overruled an employer's resistance to a working parent's request to work an extra day a fortnight at home to care for his toddler daughter until she reaches two years of age, while rejecting its claims that it would set a precedent for the remainder of its workforce.
The FWC has become overly focussed on verifying workers' eligibility for flexible work requests by imposing onerous evidentiary requirements on them, which has limited the effectiveness of its new dispute power, a researcher has told the review panel in her response to its Secure Jobs, Better Pay draft report.
In rare flexibility orders won by an ANMF organiser who moved 500km from the office after experiencing domestic violence, the FWC has temporarily blocked the union from requiring her to work more than three nights per fortnight away from home and directed it to count travel time as work time between certain hours for the first half of the school year.
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".
NSW public school teachers have voted up a three-year agreement that builds on a "breakthrough" deal last year that lifted wages by 4% in addition to big one-off rises for those at the top and bottom of pay scales.
WA's Cook Labor Government has introduced legislation to lift casual loading from 20% to 25%, give some workers an enforceable right to request flexibility, and empower the IRC to discipline industrial agents, but it continues to lag on portable LSL.
A parliamentary inquiry has recommended the Albanese Government consider amending the Fair Work Act's right to request flexible work to ensure menopausal women can access it, while it also wants reproductive leave added to the NES and awards.
