A roadside assistance and financial institution discriminated against a customer service officer by requiring clearance from her husband's specialist to confirm she would not put him at risk by returning to the office during the pandemic, a tribunal has held.
A model working from home clause in a key award should avoid contributing to remote workers working "long and unsociable hours", address employer provision of equipment and apply to all employees, according to a Centre for Future Work report.
A senior HR manager has failed to establish that Uniqlo forced her to resign by rejecting her requests to return two days a week after parental leave, the FWC noting she was "clearly aware" of her right to lodge a flexible work dispute.
Australia "remains a global laggard" on work/family benefits and the next federal government should extend paid parental leave to 52 weeks, split carers and personal leave into separate 10-day entitlements, and investigate extending personal/carers and annual leave to casual workers, according to an academic group's report.
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 FWC has accepted that a company made a HR manager redundant on her return from parental leave due to her discomfort with interviewing English-speaking job candidates and downsizing directions from its Chinese head office, rather than her status as a new mother.
The FWC has warned employers against giving "generic and blanket HR answers" when they provide their "reasonable business grounds" for knocking back flexibility requests, before ultimately rejecting a bid from a worker with challenging caring responsibilities to continue working entirely from home.
An employer did not discriminate against a lawyer when it twice declined to roll over short, fixed-term contracts that would have entitled her to paid maternity leave, an appeal panel has found.
Employment rights legal centre JobWatch says a client survey suggests most employers are failing to take internal complaints of workplace sexual harassment and discrimination seriously or to adequately protect employees, prompting recommendations to expand positive duty and vicarious liability provisions, and actively monitor compliance.
Queensland Council of Unions secretary Jacqueline King says Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke is "receptive" to calls for new gender equity laws replicating the State's legislation that has "made more of a difference" in its first year than in the previous two decades under the Queensland IRC's equal remuneration principle.
