Some 30,000 Westpac employees have won a new entitlement under the bank's proposed new three-year enterprise agreement to five paid days of "family pathways leave" to support them through processes such as IVF and adoption, while those earning less than $102,000 will receive a 5% upfront increase in its first year.
A FWC presidential member has suggested policymakers give greater consideration to recognising the "industrial qualifications" of migrant workers after ruling an employer unfairly dismissed a factory hand when it made him redundant without consultation due to his unsuccessful attempts to obtain an Australian forklift licence.
A judge has compiled a checklist for workers pursuing employers over unreasonable hours, highlighting the difficulties a product marketing manager faces in building her adverse action case without detailed evidence of workloads, deadlines and demands to complete tasks.
The use of rolling fixed-term contracts in the tertiary education sector is set to come under close scrutiny by a FWC full bench, while the tribunal has also moved ahead with its review of two arts sector awards in the wake of its inconclusive "targeted" examination of modern awards.
The FWC has cleared the way for a Philippines-based paralegal to pursue her unfair dismissal claim, finding her an employee of a Queensland law firm that paid her $12 an hour below award.
The Victorian Government should opt for best practice guidelines over law reform, the Australian Industry Group has told a parliamentary workplace surveillance inquiry, while the Centre for Future Work says there is an urgent need for dedicated workplace surveillance laws to address the "serious and unacceptable risks" associated with increased monitoring.
A full bench comprising the FWC's three most senior members has made same-job, same-pay orders that will increase wages for one labour supplier's workers at a Queensland meatworks by about 25% and provide "significantly higher rates" for a second supplier's workers at the same workplace.
An account manager who helped to lure 45 clients to a rival has been ordered to pay $500,000 to his former employer, after a judge highlighted the difficulty of gathering evidence in a case in which one of the manager's mobile phones surfaced after being "immersed in water" and another "met with the unhappy fate of being run over by a lawn mower".
The Albanese Government has told a FWC full bench it supports its review of gender undervaluation of five female-dominated awards, but wants it to phase-in any resulting large increases to manage the effects on the public purse.
