The Senate Work and Care inquiry's Labor and Greens majority is urging the Albanese Government to move swiftly to consider a right to disconnect, make flexibility requests an enforceable right and provide "roster justice" by ensuring workers with variable hours have predictability and certainty, in a 152-page interim report tabled this afternoon.
The ANMF has told the Senate work and care inquiry that ordinary full-time hours should be reduced from 38 hours to 32 to enable workers to achieve a better balance of work and caring responsibilities.
A leading gender and IR expert says Australian policymakers should "pay attention" to a UK parliamentary inquiry's recommendation that the Johnson Government make menopause a protected characteristic under anti-discrimination laws and that employers implement more menopause-friendly policies.
The CBA is rolling out new contracts for staff on legacy individual flexibility arrangements and admitting ahead of a Federal Court hearing that the IFAs breached the Fair Work Act, but the FSU says it must get the process right for those wanting to revert to the agreement.
The FWC has observed that a Victorian worker's application to work full-time from home under flexible work arrangements was largely motivated by her opposition to COVID-19 vaccinations, in upholding her employer's refusal of her request.
The "no enhancements" clause in the Federal public sector's bargaining policy could stymie the adoption of WFH provisions in Australian Public Service enterprise agreements, according to the CPSU's national secretary.
Patrick Terminals says the four-year in-principle agreement it has struck with the MUA removes "restrictive recruitment conditions", while delivering "other much-needed flexibilities" for its four container terminals, while the MUA says it has received "assurances" on job security and has won pay rises of 2.5% or CPI, whichever is greater.
The NSW IRC has rejected a nurse's bid for a flexible working arrangement under the State public sector's "if not, why not" regime to enable her to meet her caring responsibilities.
Menulog appears to have suffered a self-inflicted wound in its quest to establish a gig economy beachhead within the existing IR framework, the FWC finding its workers fall under an award that pays more than the one it currently relies upon.
The insights gained from the rapid shift to working from home during COVID-19 could lead to the adoption of a "genuine consultation" requirement under the Fair Work Act's "right to request" flexibility that might start "a conversation aimed at reaching a mutually suitable arrangement", according to a new paper by two leading IR academics.