FWC president Adam Hatcher will convene a directions hearing next month into the Commission's own-initiative case to develop a "workable" award clause that removes impediments to working from home.
Employers and unions have confirmed the gulf that exists over 'right to disconnect' laws that come into force today, the former lamenting a lack of FWC guidance on "reasonable" contact and forecasting "conflict and disharmony", while the latter hailed the new provisions as "reclaiming the right to knock off".
A FWC panel has declined to offer its own methodology for assessing gender-based undervaluation of work after employers and unions involved in its consideration of five female-dominated awards failed to agree on engaging an independent expert to do the job.
The FWC will hear an employer application to vary the SCHADS award's sleepover allowance alongside a group of unions, but will exclude parts of the unions' draft determination that "go beyond the scope" of the original application.
A FWC full bench has chosen to include in an intractable bargaining workplace determination a delegates' rights provision that closely reflects the model award term, rather than the more extensive clause sought by the TWU.
The ACTU is recommending the FWC include more "practical detail" in its draft "right to disconnect" award term, to "spell out" what the Commission will consider when it determines whether or not a refusal is unreasonable and is also proposing a review in 12 months.
A FWC full bench has won support from unions and employers for suggested variations to casual employment clauses in awards to avoid friction with Closing Loopholes changes that take effect next month, although the Ai Group has raised a "related issue" it contends needs to be resolved as part of the case.
A five-member FWC full bench has wound up its "targeted" review of modern awards with a report acknowledging that while a "lack of consensus" meant it could not determine key issues, it will now kickstart consideration of six "priority" matters that include simplifying the retail award, developing a working-from-home term in the clerks award and reviewing fixed-term contract provisions in higher education awards.
Parties involved in the FWC's consideration of gender undervaluation in five care and community sector awards will have a chance to agree on a methodology for assessing work value at a conference next Monday.
A five-member FWC full bench has decided work value pay rises of up to 28.5% for aged care workers should be staggered, with many to receive half their increase from January and the second half from next October.
