In a significant judgment on the FWC's powers, a full Federal Court has today dismissed a major hospitality group's claim that a Commission bench exhibited bias when it voiced its concerns about an already-approved agreement ultimately revealed to have been voted up by three venue managers and a payroll employee not covered by it.
A FWC full bench has made a provisional ruling in favour of ensuring the lowest pay classification in modern awards is used only for a short period of induction and training, making the second lowest rate the benchmark for continuing employment.
A worker has failed to convince the FWC that his summary dismissal took effect on the day his employer paid him in lieu of notice, rather than his last day of work two months earlier when it notified him in writing.
Professional basketball coach and Sydney 2000 Olympics Boomers star Shane Heal has failed to establish that the Sydney Flames took adverse action against him due to his exercise of workplace rights, with the Federal Court instead accepting that it suspended him as head coach after complaints from his players.
Unions and employers have flagged support for permitting award-covered employees to extend their annual leave by taking it at half pay, in what might be the sole area of consensus arising from the work and care tranche of the FWC's modern awards review, but they are yet to agree on "safeguards".
Low Pay Commission research has found that Government policies have driven the UK minimum wage's "bite" of the median up by 9.3 percentage points, while Australia's has increased by less than 0.1 percentage points since 2015, with next month's 9.8% wage floor rise in the old country to bring the minimum up to two-thirds of the median wage.
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.
Shadow Workplace Relations Minister Michealia Cash has told a forum of resource employers that the new intractable bargaining framework is among the "worst elements" of the Albanese Government's workplace makeover of the past two years, while revealing that she is "carefully consulting" with stakeholders on Coalition IR policies to take to the next election.
The FWC has ordered a small business owner to compensate his "disgruntled" ex-partner after finding she withdrew money from the company account in the context of their "deteriorating relationship", not as an employee wanting to damage the enterprise.
