The implications of today's High Court decisions affirming the primacy of contractual terms in determining employment relationships are "extremely concerning, perhaps even frightening" for those concerned about the integrity of the IR system, an academic says.
The High Court has affirmed the primacy of contractual terms in determining employment relationships, finding a construction worker was an employee of a labour hire company and that two truck drivers were independent contractors despite decades of exclusive service to a solitary business.
The FWC has thrown out a lawyer's general protections claim against the Victoria Building Authority, finding it did not force her to leave by demoting her but rather that she resigned after making a "rational decision" to accept more secure employment.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese today led apologies for the "unacceptable history" of workplace bullying, s-xual harassment and s-xual assault in Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces.
IR scholarship has succeeded in shifting its focus to contemporary workplace issues, but IR policy has not made the same transition and is stuck in an "outdated paradigm" that is "fixated" on solving problems - such as "excessive" union power - that have "diminished or no longer exist", a leading academic will tell a conference tomorrow.
The Star Entertainment Group has revealed about $13 million in underpayments to more than two thousand salaried employees over six years, after it discovered that annual salaries failed to properly compensate them for overtime they worked and penalty rates they missed out on.
Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has revealed that Single Touch Payroll data from last year shows that workers who switched jobs won pay rises of 8% to 10% - far higher than increases delivered under enterprise agreements and awards - while they also helped to boost productivity.
Victoria's Andrews Labor Government will employ 2000 additional public school teachers, reduce face-to-face teaching hours and boost pay by 2% a year under a four-year deal struck with the AEU, but in NSW unions are holding out for a 10% to 15% raise.
IR and labour law experts have queried the lawfulness of an agreement between Uber Canada and a big private sector union, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Canada.
