NSW public sector employees must now "principally" work from their "approved" office or workplace, after the COVID-19-driven "disruption" to conventional work practices, according to the head of the State's Premier's Department.
Four weeks ahead of employees winning a legislated right to disconnect, public service employers have been told they will need to train HR professionals and managers about the interaction of the new entitlement with general protections laws and consider updating job descriptions to ensure they "accurately reflect" expectations about after-hours contact.
The FWC has warned employers against giving "generic and blanket HR answers" when they provide their "reasonable business grounds" for knocking back flexibility requests, before ultimately rejecting a bid from a worker with challenging caring responsibilities to continue working entirely from home.
Interested parties have two weeks to provide feedback on the FWC's approach to implementing new powers concerning right to disconnect stop orders and disputes, including a proposal to initially send all such applications to a full bench.
A five-member FWC full bench has wound up its "targeted" review of modern awards with a report acknowledging that while a "lack of consensus" meant it could not determine key issues, it will now kickstart consideration of six "priority" matters that include simplifying the retail award, developing a working-from-home term in the clerks award and reviewing fixed-term contract provisions in higher education awards.
The ACTU told its employees yesterday they should work from home due to the prospect of protest rallies by supporters of the CFMEU's construction and general division.
Perth-based IR managers are typically attracting a $20,000 annual premium over their counterparts in Sydney and Melbourne, according to recruitment company Hays' latest salary survey.
The ACTU is calling for flexible work arrangement requests to extend to reproductive health issues, ahead of consideration of the issue at next week's triennial Congress in Adelaide.
Workers who subscribe to common "sexual harassment myths" are 16 times more likely than others to use digital communications to sexually harass their colleagues, according to a new paper that also suggests that employers had been poorly prepared for related issues arising from the pandemic-driven shift to working from home.
Queensland's peak union body will push the Albanese Government to add paid reproductive health leave to the National Employment Standards in its next term, and has released a model clause to advance the claim in bargaining, as part of its "It's For Every Body" campaign.
