The need for legislation to enshrine two days a week of working from home for all employees is "not clear", as many employers and workers have now found a hybrid "sweet spot" without any government intervention, according to the Productivity Commission.
The FWC has found that an employer had no reasonable option other than to dismiss a worker who persistently refused to comply with its hybrid working policy, based on his belief that his employment contract provided an "unconditional" right to work from home.
The FWC has wiped-out the redundancy entitlements of two visa workers who shunned an alternative role that would have enabled them to keep working from their shared apartment.
Casual employment has resumed a long-term decline, while the incidence of working from home has stabilised at just over a third of the workforce, according to newly-released ABS data.
An employer has cleared the first hurdle in challenging a finding that an employee who tripped over a self-erected puppy fence while working from home is entitled to compensation, with a full bench majority remitting the matter for redetermination.
The author of a book tracing 150 years of campaigning for a shorter Australian working week says it offers crucial lessons for current efforts to win a four-day work week, cut unpaid overtime, and properly account for domestic labour, while AMWU national secretary Steve Murphy considers it part of a "just transition".
Victoria's Allan Government is supporting a Silver Review recommendation that public sector agencies ensure employees adhere to the expectation that they work a minimum of three days in the office, with most currently attending for only two days.
Unions have doubled down on objections to an Australian Industry Group draft working-from-home clause proposed for the clerks award, claiming it will create a two-tiered system, confound both employers and workers and violates new penalty rates protections.
Shadow IR minister Tim Wilson has made it clear that he is some way from releasing any Coalition IR policy, but has nevertheless indicated that it must address AI's looming "reset" to the way people work and underlined that he strongly favours WFH and workplace flexibility, after the disastrous pre-poll stance earlier this year.
