Employment Minister Michaelia Cash said last night that she made an offer to the Opposition to split-off into a separate Bill elements of the "four-yearly review" legislation that enable the FWC to overlook technical and minor errors in agreements, after tribunal president Iain Ross twice wrote asking her to urgently secure its passage.
The Fair Work Commission says its failure to meet timeliness targets for agreement approvals is partly due to the delay in passage of the Turnbull Government's legislation that would enable it to overlook minor or technical flaws in proposed deals.
The FWC has upheld the sacking of NUW NSW organiser Nick Belan over admissions to the Heydon Royal Commission he misused his union credit card, slamming his "complete disregard" for his duty.
A senior FWC member has floated the idea of the Commission playing a greater role in adverse action cases so they can be finalised faster than under the current regime, which he says can take four years.
The ROC has launched an inquiry into the HSU's Tasmanian branch over an alleged "termination payment" provided to former state secretary and current national secretary Chris Brown, while the CEPU has dismissed an ROC investigation into reporting breaches as a scare tactic.
An FWC full bench is today hearing a challenge to a Registered Organisations Commission ruling that Queensland's Together union breached the registered organisations regulations, exposing it to penalties, when its leader made a "considered decision" to delay lodgement of election information.
The FWC is seeking feedback by the end of this month on model terms for unpaid family and domestic violence leave in modern awards and whether the proposed entitlement should be extended to perpetrators, while it is giving parties more time to reply to a report on family-friendly work arrangements.
Tasmanian independent MP Andrew Wilkie today introduced a private members' bill to prevent the Fair Work Commission from agreeing to employer requests to terminate expired enterprise agreements that leave workers worse off.
The FWC looks set to reduce by a week its hearings into an application by Coles nightfill worker Penny Vickers to terminate the 2011 agreement, after warning that granting further extensions could render her case moot if the retailer gets a new agreement approved.
