A Chinese company that brought 24 workers to Australia to dismantle machinery and paid them just a portion of their total wage during the four-plus months they were here – with the balance then delivered on their return to China – has been fined $14,850.
In a split decision, a NSW IRC full bench has upheld an appeal against orders preventing the dismissal of three corrections officers, after finding that Deputy President Rod Harrison had incorrectly based his decision on whether the officers were guilty of serious misconduct.
A new paper recommends changes to the Fair Work Act to provide stronger protections for students undertaking vocational placements and work experience, suggesting they have become the new "phenomenon" of the workplace in the 21st century following the casualisation of the 1980s and 1990s.
The 1.5% levy on large corporations to finance the Coalition's paid parental leave scheme will raise $1.1 billion more in the next four years than is required to cover its net cost, according to figures released by Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey today.
Wage growth in private sector agreements lodged in the June quarter has dropped to 3.5% a year, well below the post-GFC average of about 3.9%, according to new data released by DEEWR today.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott promised to "move the workplace relations pendulum back to the sensible centre", restore a "strong" construction industry watchdog, and "hit dodgy union officials with the same penalties as corporate crooks", in his official launch of the Coalition's federal election campaign yesterday.
The Coalition's paid parental scheme won't start until July 1, 2015, will retain Labor's "work test", will prevent public sector employees double-dipping, and will cost $5.5 billion annually – more than twice what its 1.5% levy on business will raise, it revealed yesterday.
Australia's national science agency, the CSIRO, has received a mixed report card from an independent investigation into allegations of workplace bullying, which found that while the organisation's work culture wasn't "toxic", its policies had encouraged a "blame the victim" approach.
A Fair Work Commission full bench has overturned two more decisions of Commissioner John Ryan, holding he made factual errors and placed too much reliance on the dismissed worker's evidence in both cases.
