Fast food giant McDonald's is standing by its agreement that trades off lower penalty rates for an over-award hourly rate, despite the FWC rejecting a similar deal for Coles Supermarkets.
The FWC has decried the "normalisation" of a culture of lawlessness within the CFMEU, in decisions refusing two officials' applications for entry permits after they failed the "fit and proper person" test, but granting entry rights to another organiser who allegedly threatened to start a Boral-style "war" against a major construction company.
Unions will push for a legislated "no reduction principle" for penalty rates, in contrast to the Labor policy stance of having them decided by the Fair Work Commission.
Fortescue Metals Group has failed in a bid to block the CEPU from seeking a declaration that it unduly delayed entry to its WA branch secretary after a 2013 workplace fatality, with a court finding WA's non-harmonised OHS laws are no barrier to entering sites under the Fair Work Act.
With the deadline looming for companies to submit their annual gender equity reports, the Workplace Gender Equality Agency has highlighted a 13.9% pay gap for female senior managers in law firms, while a new KPMG report shows ASX-listed employers are making slow progress in appointing female senior executives – with the notable exception of HR roles.
The FWC has reinstated a senior clinician fired for making "ill-advised" jokes about her hospital director in email exchanges with her supervisor, after finding "the punishment did not fit the crime".
The CFMEU says the construction watchdog prosecuted its national secretary, Michael O'Connor, on the basis of flimsy evidence, in an effort to politically embarrass his brother, shadow workplace relations minister Brendan O'Connor.
