Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has today identified precarious work as a substantial driver of the State's escalating coronavirus second wave, while the Melbourne-based head of the ABCC is under fire for leaving the virus hotspot to conduct a compulsory examination in Brisbane.
Surging coronavirus cases in Victoria have today prompted an FWC full bench to seek urgent submissions on a provisional view that it should now vary the aged care award to provide paid pandemic leave for employees, including casuals, who must self-isolate.
The FWC has upheld a recruitment company's dismissal of a consultant who refused, as the coronavirus pandemic escalated in early March, to complete a survey about his recent history of travel to destinations with moderate to high COVID-19 risks.
Attorney-General and IR Minister Christian Porter has stressed that employers cannot insist that employees use the Federal Government's COVIDSafe tracing app, with breaches attracting fines of up to $63,000 and five years' jail.
NCCC releases COVIDsafe "planning tool"; $70 million in underpayments by Suncorp; Minimum pay rise needed to boost virus-hit economy, says Labor; and Fast food award hearing.
Employers will soon have access to a "complete toolkit" to achieve "COVIDsafe" workplaces when their businesses "reanimate" after the coronavirus hibernation, the Federal Government promised this afternoon, while the chief medical officer addressed the question of whether the coronavirus means the end of hotdesking.
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.
