The "lawlessness test" that is likely to prevent unions such as the CFMMEU from engaging in multi-employer bargaining could be made more specific after discussions with employers and unions, according to Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke.
A senior FWC member has refused to recuse himself for addressing a worker's representative as "mister" in an unfair dismissal case that argued an employer should have permitted an unvaccinated employee to keep working from home during COVID-19 restrictions instead of sacking her.
The Albanese Government's IR legislation provides "big improvements" in the bargaining framework for low-paid workers, but the benefits of the multi-employer provisions might be more limited, according to a leading workplace law expert.
The Senate inquiry into the Albanese Government's Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill will report just six days after submissions close on November 11, as Labor seeks to clear the way for its passage before Parliament rises on December 1.
Ten days paid family and domestic violence leave is now a NES entitlement, after the House of Representatives this morning accepted the Senate's legislative amendments.
The Albanese Government's Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill, introduced today, ushers in a new multi-employer bargaining regime, but with safeguards that will bar participation by unions with a record of flouting workplace laws, limit industrial action to those in a "supported bargaining stream" and exclude the commercial construction sector.
The Albanese Government's first major tranche of IR legislation beefs-up workers' rights to secure flexible working arrangements and empowers the FWC to arbitrate if conciliation of a refused request fails.
The FWC has slashed median approval times for enterprise agreements from 76 days to 15 days in the past five years, according to the tribunal's annual report.
A worker who claims FWC President Iain Ross admitted to having a problem with commissioners' "colonial attitude" has lost his Federal Court bid to sue the tribunal for racial discrimination.
