FWC President Adam Hatcher will conduct a directions hearing on Friday to consider an SDA bid to lift award junior rates for under-18 workers and abolish them altogether for those 18 and above, with the union arguing that age should not be a criterion for setting pay.
FWC President Adam Hatcher has expressed concern about possible confusion arising from the inclusion in all awards of the new right to disconnect outside of working hours, when some awards "specifically contemplate" out-of-hours contact.
The AiG is calling for the FWC to reject the ACTU's "misguided and inappropriate" draft "right to disconnect" award clause, and AREEA is recommending the final clause mirror the legislation, rather than expand it.
The ACTU says the "right to disconnect" clause to be inserted into awards should provide "descriptive guidance" on how the entitlement would operate and the FWC should reject employers' proposed "minimalist" approach, ahead of consultations next week and the Commission releasing a draft provision next month.
Employers say they are approving most flexible hours and work from home requests, according to a FWC-commissioned modern awards review survey that suggests the tribunal might explore entrenching a right to fully flexible arrangements for work that can be performed remotely.
The FWC's expert panel has this morning approved a 3.75% increase in all award rates and the national minimum wage, but has rebuffed the ACTU's bid for an immediate additional 4% for workers in highly-feminised industries, instead committing to a timetable to address the issue over the next 12 months.
The FWC is inviting submissions by June 11 on a "right to disconnect" audit of all 155 modern awards focusing on terms involving spans of hours, notice, supervisory duties, and requirements to remain on call, on standby or return to duty.
The Federal Government has made a "technical assumption" that there will be a minimum wage increase of 3.5% this year, the FWC's expert panel heard yesterday, while Commission President Adam Hatcher lamented the "Catch-22" situation the Commission faces in weighing whether Canberra will fund any gender-based increases.
The ANMF is urging the FWC to use "right to disconnect" award variations to make it harder for employers to cut costs by relying on "threadbare" staffing and refusing to roster enough workers on-call, while the NTEU wants casual academics paid to respond to students outside their working hours.
Employers have succeeded in varying an award clause a FWC full bench agrees could produce the "absurd" result of workers receiving five times the prescribed minimum rates.
