A positive economic outlook and sustained labour productivity improvement are key factors in yesterday's Fair Work Commission's decision to award a 3% increase to award rates of pay, with the minimum wage panel again advising employer groups that they need to introduce more rigour to their surveys if they are to have any influence on the tribunal's deliberations.
The NSW Government has had a victory in its long-running battle to include compulsory superannuation increases within the public sector 2.5% wage cap, after the State's Court of Appeal quashed last year's IRC ruling that the wages cap only applied to Commission-awarded increases.
The Fair Work Commission's President, Justice Iain Ross, has included himself on the default superannuation funds expert panel to "put beyond doubt" industry concerns about its composition.
In one of the few applications for take-home-pay orders, a personal carer has failed to convince the Fair Work Commission that he was entitled to a travel allowance from his old award.
The Fair Work Commission has rejected another employer application to create a modern enterprise award rather than be bound by a sector-wide modern award.
The SDA has successfully appealed against fast food and hair & beauty industry employers having greater flexibility in compensating employees for working on public holidays.
The AiG will argue for a raft of annual leave changes as part of the four-year review of modern awards, including greater powers for employers to compel workers to take annual leave during close-downs and when accrued leave reaches "excessive" levels.
In a significant decision, a Fair Work Commission full bench has agreed to scrap the 90% rate for 20-year-old retail workers, holding they should receive full adult pay after six months with an employer.
In a big win for supermarket giant Coles, the Federal Circuit Court has ruled that its online delivery drivers are covered by the major retail award, throwing out the TWU's long-running claim that they are employed in the transport industry.
Jetstar unlawfully deducted training costs from the wages of cadet pilots, despite warnings against doing so from its external IR consultant and its head of flying operations, the Federal Court has revealed in a penalty judgment today.
