The NSW Industrial Relations Commission has approved a "splinter award" to protect thousands of local government workers who are unable to perform their usual roles during the COVID-19 pandemic.
An FWU conference convened this afternoon to consider granting paid pandemic leave to vulnerable workers heard that the ACTU has asked Comcare and state-based workcover schemes to declare COVID-19 an occupational disease within the health industry.
The Opposition and legal experts have questioned why the JobKeeper rules appear to leave out the "one in, all in" requirement spelt out in their explanatory statement, and have canvassed what it might mean for employers wanting to negotiate trade-offs.
The IR system will need to change to deal with challenges arising from the COVID-19 "new normal" of working from home, according to a briefing paper by the Centre for Future Work.
The FWC will consider an ACTU push for frontline health workers to have access to paid leave on multiple occasions if they are required to self-isolate due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A six-member FWC full bench has today made a coronavirus-driven change to 99 modern awards to temporarily give an estimated 4.4 million workers access to two weeks unpaid "pandemic leave" and enable them to take annual leave at half pay.
The JobKeeper legislation will amend the Fair Work Act to enable qualifying employers to lawfully change workers' hours, duties, days and location, while empowering the FWC to adjudicate disputes, IR Minister Christian Porter said today.
Federal Parliament is set to pass the Morrison Government's $130 billion JobKeeper wage subsidy tomorrow after changes agreed last night between IR Minister Christian Porter and ACTU secretary Sally McManus.
Porter rejects McManus model for JobKeeper casuals; Legislation only sure way to change awards, agreements, says Porter; Parliamentary library paper considers coronavirus wage subsidy programs; Analysis weighs up JobKeeper; Non-parties excluded from Federal Court "law search"; and McManus discusses JobKeeper, coronavirus measures.
