As the FWC calls for submissions on an employer bid to ditch the term "penalty rates" and replace it with "additional remuneration", a senior union-clientele lawyer is warning of a "slippery slope" if recognition of a need to compensate those working unsociable hours is removed.
The FWC has asked the Turnbull Government to clarify whether it intends to amend the Fair Work Act to enable the tribunal to make take home pay orders to potentially mitigate hardship flowing from its decision to cut hospitality and retail workers' penalty rates, and is seeking further submissions on transitional arrangements.
A vote today has confirmed that key minor crossbench senators have dropped their support for the looming cuts to penalty rates in retail and hospitality.
After what the FWO says is the first judicial review of one of its compliance notices, the Federal Circuit Court has found that a cook engaged at a Hindu temple was underpaid because he was wrongly classified as a priest under his employment contract.
An 18-time "best brothel In Australia" and its operator have been ordered to pay more than $170,000 in compensation and penalties to an award-winning receptionist who won an adverse action case after being dismissed for refusing to shift from permanent part-time to casual employment.
Carlton & United Breweries and the ETU in submissions to a Senate inquiry have provided conflicting accounts of last year's dispute over the use of labour hire employees at the company's Abbotsford brewery.
The FWC has reduced Sunday penalty rates in the hospitality, retail, fast food and pharmacy sectors and pared-back public holiday penalties in five awards, in a landmark ruling today by a five-member full bench.
