The ACTU has told Coalition MPs Barnaby Joyce and Andrew Hastie to "get out of the way" after they sullied what was meant to be bipartisan support for legislation to guarantee paid parental leave for parents of stillborn children, as they seek to link it with late-term abortions.
The Albanese Government has this morning introduced legislation to ensure that, unless expressly agreed otherwise, workers will not lose out on employer-funded paid parental leave if their child is stillborn or dies soon after birth.
The FWC has today ruled a paramedic ineligible for primary carers' parental leave to tend to for his six-month old baby, because the enterprise agreement covering him only enables carers of newborns to access the entitlement.
A prime mover in the campaign to secure paid reproductive leave is now pushing for HECS indexation to pause while primary caregivers are on parental leave, to avoid the cost of time off work disproportionately falling on women.
In response to a grieving mother's petition, Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt has committed to legislating to prevent employers from cancelling employer-paid parental leave for parents dealing with stillbirth or early infant death.
The FWC has backed a school's refusal to let a coordinator perform her executive role part-time for the first two terms when she returns from parental leave, supporting its offer of a lower-paying teacher position and noting it is not simply "serving customers who are buying widgets".
