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BHP Billiton Iron Ore has asked the Fair Pay Commission to explicitly exclude its WA iron ore award from its next minimum wages determination, in a submission highlighting confusion over the application of pay and classifications scales to former paid rates enterprise awards.

Workplace Relations Minister Joe Hockey has told Workplace Express that the Federal Government "is not for turning on the fundamentals of the reforms".

The Commonwealth has not recommended a dollar amount for this year's minimum wage determination by the AFPC, but stressed the negative impact of excessive rises on employment, and sought more time for post-Budget submissions.

The Queensland Supreme Court has upheld a finding that Virgin Blue discriminated against eight over-36 women who applied for cabin crew jobs but were rejected due to their age.

The NSW Industrial Court has found the State’s IRC can make awards covering long service leave, in a ruling that suggests state tribunals’ award-making power extends to a range of matters excluded by Work Choices.

In the latest twist in the Tristar redundancy battle, the company yesterday won Federal Court orders restraining the NSW IRC from continuing its inquiry into the availability of work at its Marrickville plant.

Prime Minister John Howard has called on employers to fund an IR advertising campaign to combat the ACTU's anti-Work Choices campaign, but so far major employer groups have rejected the idea.

At a time when the federal ALP is grappling with its alternative to Work Choices, the Australian Institute of Employment Rights (AIER) has developed a draft 10-point charter of employment rights which one of its members, former AIRC senior deputy president Paul Munro, has described as the foundation for "insurgent" IR policy.

Darrell Lea Chocolate Shops Pty Ltd has rejected what it calls "inaccurate announcements" by unions and the ALP about its introduction of AWAs, saying it has reduced its total penalties and allowances bill by about $80,000 or 5% from a total of about $500,000 last year, with some 500 casual sales assistants now working under the individual contracts. As a proportion of its total wages bill, the savings represent less than 1%, it says.

A British school has won a legal appeal over its right to require a Muslim employee to remove her veil while teaching students, even though the policy was indirectly discriminatory on religious grounds.