Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has criticised a law firm that experienced a coronavirus outbreak for refusing to allow employees to work from home, as Melbourne prepares for an inspection blitz in response to workplaces emerging as the key transmission point for the hundreds of daily cases.
In a coronavirus-driven strategy shift, the Fair Work Ombudsman will temporarily consider the "impact on viability" when deciding whether to prosecute employers, but has stressed it will still require underpayments to be made good.
Some 2.4 million workers gained access to $18.1 billion in super under the coronavirus early release scheme until June 28, while a further 100,000 were waiting for the funds to hit their bank accounts, according to data released by the prudential regulator today.
Asking why the nation has a "blue" COVID-19 recovery plan for a "pink recession", the SDA has told a Senate inquiry that focusing investment in female-dominated industries will create more jobs and more effectively boost the economy.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison says that employers will need extra flexibility from the IR system for the economy to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
ACTU secretary Sally McManus has warned against an excessive concentration of taxpayer support on blue-collar jobs in response to what is primarily a "pink recession" caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The University of Melbourne says it will "move towards inevitable workforce reductions" after staff rejected a COVID-19 variation proposal to permanently remove their latest pay rise and introduce a new voluntary redundancy package.
The Morrison Government established an IR working group, chaired by former ACTU secretary Greg Combet and including a key legal advisor to the MUA during the bitter 1998 waterfront dispute, as a trouble-shooting body at the height of the COVID-19 restrictions and business shutdowns in April.
IR Minister and working groups chair Christian Porter has appointed the former head of the WA Treasury as his deputy chair, in the wake of a preliminary roundtable in Sydney this morning.
