Queensland's Palaszczuk Labor Government is struggling to sell a proposed 12-month freeze on a scheduled 2.5% wage increase to the unions representing the state's public sector workers.
The NSW Government has taken off the table its offer of a $1000 "bonus" and job guarantee in lieu of a pay rise for frontline public servants, as it pursues the freeze in the NSW IRC, following a disallowance motion in the Upper House.
Unions are still in the dark about which NSW public servants would qualify for a $1000 frontline worker 'bonus' in lieu of a pay rise, while a health union has asked the State Treasurer to ditch a 2.5% wages cap before it puts the offer to members.
A senior police executive who tried to reset his "moral compass" during an affair involving almost 24,000 emails has failed to have his demotion reduced, a tribunal appeals board suggesting such efforts had already helped spare him dismissal.
The FWC has upheld the dismissal of a paramedic accused of prematurely ending the resuscitation of a teenager who hanged himself, finding she lied to an investigator about her reasons for doing so and made "debasing" statements.
The FWC has upheld the sacking of a hospital operating theatre cleaner who spent 44% of his working time, excluding breaks, in a tea room, but has scolded the employer for its "faintly ridiculous" arguments against allowing him to "meticuously review" damning CCTV footage.
A tribunal has upheld the dismissal of a marijuana-smoking prison officer, while noting the potential for "mischief" in the suggestion that her proclivity could produce an unconscious bias in assessing inmates.
The ACTU's push for paid pandemic leave in the broader health sector could extend to almost 1.6 million workers in the wake of FWC proceedings seeking to include the entitlement in a variety of related awards.
A paramedic sacked for allegedly self-medicating with a pain relief drug while on duty will get another chance to push for reinstatement, with Queensland's Industrial Court upholding his challenge to a decision dismissing his application.
