Employers say the National Employment Standards should cap the number of public holidays attracting penalty rates, boost "flexibility" for part-timers and those working from home, and keep the gig economy beyond coverage, while academics support removing the 12-months service qualifier for parental leave.
A FWC full bench has found that shiftworkers employed by a major stevedoring company are entitled to payment on top of their ordinary weekly wage if they are rostered off on a public holiday.
The Federal Court has found that the limits to the FWC's dispute resolution powers mean that its ruling about an agreement's new long service leave clause only applies to the worker that first raised the issue, rather than all covered employees.
The FWC has ruled that a Civmec electrical engineer who rejected an alternative role has no entitlement to a redundancy payment, finding the employer adequately explained its offer despite its "clumsy and at times misguided" approach.
A NDIS-registered medical provider's "frivolous" spending on "staff wellbeing" birthday celebrations and "recklessness" in hiring new staff while struggling to meet a speech pathologist's redundancy entitlements has helped undo its bid to slash her payout.
A senior FWC member has tripled the compensation sought by a worker sacked after her mother called the employer to convey in "abrupt and firm" tones that it should stop insisting on documentary evidence of a close relative's sudden death before paying bereavement leave.
A public servant who claimed he should have received six weeks carer's leave to escort his frail father back to India for a specialist's appointment and physiotherapy has failed to convince a senior FWC member, who found no evidence to suggest he could not have been treated locally.
The need for legislation to enshrine two days a week of working from home for all employees is "not clear", as many employers and workers have now found a hybrid "sweet spot" without any government intervention, according to the Productivity Commission.
First Nations women face a larger pay gap than other women, which results in them retiring with lower super balances that many don't live long enough to enjoy, an academic has told an IR conference.
The MEU has sought High Court leave to intervene in the Coal LSL challenge to a finding that Orica's obligation to make contributions to the scheme on behalf of shotfirers ceased in 2022 when it sold a separate business providing services to underground mines.
