A judge has warned the FWO of a possible "perception" it failed to comply with its model litigant obligations after dropping the "most serious" claim of threatening behaviour from a CFMEU right of entry case as part of a liability deal.
An international retailer, TK Maxx, has pleaded guilty to seven breaches of Victoria's child employment laws at one of its stores, with the Melbourne Magistrates Court placing it on an adjourned undertaking for 12 months with the condition it pay $5,000 to the court fund.
In a significant judgment on the FWC's powers, a full Federal Court has today dismissed a major hospitality group's claim that a Commission bench exhibited bias when it voiced its concerns about an already-approved agreement ultimately revealed to have been voted up by three venue managers and a payroll employee not covered by it.
A FWC full bench has made a provisional ruling in favour of ensuring the lowest pay classification in modern awards is used only for a short period of induction and training, making the second lowest rate the benchmark for continuing employment.
Unions and employers have flagged support for permitting award-covered employees to extend their annual leave by taking it at half pay, in what might be the sole area of consensus arising from the work and care tranche of the FWC's modern awards review, but they are yet to agree on "safeguards".
Low Pay Commission research has found that Government policies have driven the UK minimum wage's "bite" of the median up by 9.3 percentage points, while Australia's has increased by less than 0.1 percentage points since 2015, with next month's 9.8% wage floor rise in the old country to bring the minimum up to two-thirds of the median wage.
Queensland's peak union body will push the Albanese Government to add paid reproductive health leave to the National Employment Standards in its next term, and has released a model clause to advance the claim in bargaining, as part of its "It's For Every Body" campaign.
The FWC has ordered a small business owner to compensate his "disgruntled" ex-partner after finding she withdrew money from the company account in the context of their "deteriorating relationship", not as an employee wanting to damage the enterprise.