A FWC presidential member has underlined that workers are not immune from retrenchment while on leave or working under flexible arrangements, confirming that operational issues warranting severance can arise at any time.
The ACTU has told a review of the SJBP Act that employers should be compelled to accommodate flexible work requests - such as working from home - unless it causes "unjustifiable hardship", while unions should not have to demonstrate majority employee support for contested single-interest bargaining authorisations.
A leading IR barrister says few employers are equipped to deal with the "huge sleeper issue" posed by the rise of working from home, as it becomes increasingly difficult to order employees to return, but he does not believe more legislation is the answer.
The Federal Government should consider "a right of access" to workplaces rather than a right of entry", to overcome the presumption that workers attend a physical location to perform their jobs that "ignore[s] the reality" of post-COVID-19 remote and digital work environments, a union leader suggests in a paper she will present at the Australian Labour Law Association conference next week in Geelong.
JobKeeper-like wage subsidies should be part of a government's "toolkit" for future pandemics, but "blanket" early access to superannuation should be taken off the table, according to the independent inquiry into Australia's response to COVID-19.
Amazon will require its corporate employees across the globe, including in Australia, to return to the office five days a week from early next year to strengthen the company's culture, unless there are exceptional circumstances.
The FWC's bid to develop an award clause removing impediments to working from home looks to be a slow burn, with a hearing likely next June following a possible employee survey.
Employer-subsidised transport encourages working in the office in Paris, contributing to its attendance levels rising above Sydney, London and New York, according to a new report.
FWC president Adam Hatcher will convene a directions hearing next month into the Commission's own-initiative case to develop a "workable" award clause that removes impediments to working from home.
The FWC has found that a worker failed to establish an "objective rational connection" between her age and her flexible working request, after she resisted ANZ's hybrid working policy and asked to work 100% from home because of her fear of catching COVID-19.
