The modern award system might have comprehensively whittled down previous iterations but its complexity still baffles some users, according to the Attorney-General's Department.
A five-member FWC full bench has today given any objectors until Monday to respond to its "provisional view" that it should extend COVID-19 paid pandemic leave provisions in three major health awards for five months.
The Federal Court has put the brakes on the $1.9 million settlement of a $65 million class action against marketing agency Appco, noting it would leave more than 1000 former fundraisers with "diddly squat" after the litigation funder takes half.
Employers have pushed back against the SDA's campaign to remove junior rates in the retail sector for all but the lowest of eight classifications, arguing it will "unambiguously" raise costs and slow promotions.
Forty-eight former Macquarie Bank wealth advisors have been awarded compensation totalling more than $1.3 million despite a judge describing as "rapacious" their claims about underpayment of various leave entitlements.
The FWC has used the further extension of COVID-19-related flexibilities in the clerks award to advance its campaign for enduring changes in working-from-home arrangements, calling on employers and unions to report back on possible variations to address the issue by early next month.
The FWC has extended COVID-19 flexibility clauses in 74 modern awards until the end of March, while employers are proposing to follow the same path for the clerical award in the face of union opposition.
The Federal Circuit Court has expressed "hesitation and regret" in accepting that while a DJ was a casual rather than an independent contractor, his underpayments claim must fail as his work was not covered by an award.
A $5 an hour "COVID-19 care allowance" for disability workers attending to self-isolated and quarantining clients is unnecessary and likely to trigger a push to insert it into other health sector and aged care awards, according to an FWC full bench.
The FWC has given any objectors a week to put their views on extending special coronavirus-driven flexibilities in 71 modern awards until the end of March, when the JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme ends.