A leading IR academic kicking off a Senate inquiry's hearings into the Albanese Government's Closing Loopholes legislation has recommended passage of changes for "employee-like" gig workers and owner drivers, along with some "improvements".
An "openly gay" head chef sacked for allegedly molesting female co-workers has won $16,000 compensation, after the FWC found it "more than coincidental" that his employer decided that s-xual harassment provided a valid reason for summary dismissal before it emailed employees a survey full of loaded questions.
A judge has told an employment and IR forum that the Federal Circuit and Family Court's small claims jurisdiction is an "area to watch" in the light of a five-fold expansion of its compensation cap to $100,000, "fast outcomes" and its ability to determine casual conversion disputes.
The FWC has upheld the sacking of a mineworker for failing to disclose his use of prescription medicinal cannabis on his days off, despite the fact he passed all drug tests and left a 32-hour buffer before the start of his working weeks.
New DEWR data has undercut RBA warnings about the risks of a wage-price spiral, indicating that private sector bargained wage growth remains anchored below 4% a year.
In what is believed to be the first workplace breastfeeding discrimination ruling, a tribunal has found that a KFC franchisee indirectly discriminated against a worker when it told her to express milk in a tent, within a storeroom with no door.
The process of obtaining an entry permit should be "no more than onerous" than that for a passport unless there are "good grounds" for suspecting the applicant might not be a fit and proper person, according to the Booth-Hamberger review of regulation of registered organisations.
The FWC will consider the late unfair dismissal claim of a worker who believes his employer sacked him for alleged sexual harassment, after receiving evidence that five law firms rejected his case on one day alone.
A FWC full bench has this afternoon issued the first supported bargaining authorisation under the Secure Jobs provisions, opening the way for the UWU, AEU and IEU to negotiate a deal on behalf of 12,000 employees with 64 early childhood education and care employers.
Queensland Catholic school teachers and support staff have rejected an employer deal by a narrow margin after the IEU labelled it "punitive" and warned of major cuts, while staff in Religious Institute and Edmund Rice schools have convincingly voted up their unilateral offer.