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.
Wharfies have near-unanimously voted up a "historic" Patrick Stevedores deal that provides pay rises of at least 10% over three years, a $2000 bonus and a super boost, eight months before the nominal expiry of the current agreement, and coinciding with the anniversary of the 1998 waterfront dispute.
A property manager who returned home to down scotch and cokes with her sister following a panic attack during her working time has won $9,000 compensation, after the FWC found her real estate agent employer failed to establish that the hours-long drinking session coincided with her remotely accessing its IT system and deleting and forwarding her emails and other documents.
In a decision laying bare one business's struggle to balance productivity and work-from-home arrangements, the FWC has concluded that it did not force a new father to resign when it told him to return to the office and increase his output.
The Australian Industry Group is urging the Coalition to conduct a "fundamental review" of the Fair Work Act in its first term if it wins the federal election, to identify changes to take to the 2028 election, while the ACTU has released legal advice obtained on the party's public sector WFH policy prior to its sudden backflip.
A lap dancer who worked in a club in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley cannot proceed with her general protections claim after the FWC found she is an independent contractor.
In a decision questioning the value of medical certificates issued over the internet, a senior FWC member has excoriated a Melbourne lawyer after finding he claimed sick days in order to attend the AFL's Gather Round in Adelaide and "inexcusabl[y]" provided false evidence in pursuing his unfair dismissal case.
Catholic school employers have escaped penalties for withholding backpay from two teachers who resigned before new agreements' retrospective pay rises came into effect, a judge finding that the deals' ambiguities contributed to the "honest and reasonable" mistake.
The FWC has held that it has no power under the Fair Work Act's flexible work dispute provisions to deal with a National Australia Bank worker's challenge to the cancellation of her WFH flexibility arrangement after she allegedly failed to comply with its terms.
The Coalition has reversed its stance on working from home in the federal public sector, while also shifting its position on slashing the APS workforce by 41,000, saying it will now be achieved over five years by natural attrition and hiring freezes, but the CPSU is warning this will still have a "devastating" effect on services.
