Employers will have to pay market rates for 457 visa holders and will have to reimburse the Government for costs incurred if the temporary workers do not leave the country voluntarily, but they will no longer have to pay the workers' health care costs, under draft employer obligation regulations released today by Immigration Minister Senator Chris Evans.
Measures to improve women's equality have moved up the bargaining agenda in the federal public sector in the wake of new bargaining guidelines and the CPSU adopting a template log incorporating 28 weeks paid parental leave, but agencies are struggling to comply with the new "genuine bargaining" obligations, according to Sydney University's Sue Williamson.
Maternity pay is provided in just 16% of private sector agreements and paternity pay in only 13%, University of Sydney researchers have found in the first analysis of the incidence of paid parental leave entitlements in agreements.
An investigation by an employer leading it to dismiss an employee did not breach the duty of mutual trust and confidence, the Federal Magistrates Court has found.
The CFMEU construction division's WA branch has signed off on new collective agreements with Brookfield Multiplex and Mirvac Constructions, but is facing resistance from contractors concerned about escalating wage costs under the deal.
WA government agencies are failing to allow employees sufficient access to important entitlements - such as flexitime, carer’s leave, purchased leave and leave without pay - that could help them improve their work/life balance, according to University of WA researcher Trish Todd. Managers have been reluctant to make changes to work organisation that would make a real difference, she says.
The Queensland Anti-Discrimination Tribunal has awarded substantial compensation to a woman who suffered serious depression after being told she must convert to Catholicism or lose her position as the head of a local St Vincent De Paul Society group.
A call centre company's efforts to find new jobs for 56 redundant employees did not mean it could avoid paying them severance pay, the Federal Court has found.
A former employee with a global HR consultancy has relied on comments made by a manager years earlier in pre-employment negotiations to win her claim for a $100,000-plus severance payout.
