The insights gained from the rapid shift to working from home during COVID-19 could lead to the adoption of a "genuine consultation" requirement under the Fair Work Act's "right to request" flexibility that might start "a conversation aimed at reaching a mutually suitable arrangement", according to a new paper by two leading IR academics.
Most negotiations between employers and employees on working from home arrangements will remain outside the formal IR system, according to a new report by the Productivity Commission.
As Telstra continues to bring call centre jobs back onshore and responds to changing needs during the pandemic, it says a new flexible work policy will support "location agnostic" and "hybrid" practices that open up flexibility options for all employees.
Requests by two HR consultancies to extend coronavirus-driven award variations providing more flexibility to work from home have prompted the FWC to expand the window for submissions on its provisional view that the measures should be wound up.
A tribunal has ordered the ACT Government to re-credit more than 200 hours of personal leave to a worker who accused it of discriminating against her on the basis of her parenting responsibilities by refusing to let her start work before 7.30am.
As COVID-19 amplifies pressure for workers to have greater rights to "disconnect" outside of working hours, the Irish Government has asked its Workplace Relations Commission to develop a code of practice to promote the practice.
More than half of private sector clerks included in a survey to inform a possible coronavirus-driven award variation have been working from home since the middle of last year and almost three quarters of employers intend to let them continue doing so at least some of the time.
The ASU is challenging the ATO's COVID-19 emergency work-from-home arrangements and its ability to quickly call employees back to the office, accusing it in a Federal Court adverse action case of breaching the terms of its agreement.
Griffith University's Professor David Peetz has warned employers to consult their workers before implementing post-COVID-19 workplace changes or risk turning "disorder into chaos", ahead of today's repeal of NSW public health orders requiring organisations to allow employees to perform their duties from home.
