A Melbourne hotel that claimed an inability to engage in face-to-face discussions before making a chef redundant during the city's second COVID-19 lockdown must compensate her for unfair dismissal, after falling foul of award consultation obligations.
More than half of private sector clerks included in a survey to inform a possible coronavirus-driven award variation have been working from home since the middle of last year and almost three quarters of employers intend to let them continue doing so at least some of the time.
McDonald's, the sole corporation to make a submission to the Omnibus Bill inquiry, is calling for substantial amendments to casual conversion provisions and the BOOT, indicating the legislation's changes to the latter are insufficient to renew its interest in enterprise bargaining.
The ALP caucus today resolved to oppose the Morrison Government's Omnibus IR Bill in its entirety, in a major shift from the more cooperative approach taken towards emergency legislation last year at the height of the pandemic.
The Australian Hotels Association has proposed ahead of further conferences next week in the loaded rates case that the FWC extend the range of ordinary working hours when it considers simplified pay arrangements for the hospitality and retail sectors.
A five-member FWC full bench has confirmed the provisional view it reached in August last year that there is not a strong enough case, with the COVID-19 pandemic relatively well-controlled in Australia, to insert paid pandemic in awards covering paramedics and NDIS, home care and patient transport workers.
If the FWC incorporates loaded rates in hospitality and retail awards after a referral from IR Minister Christian Porter, it is likely to involve a range of such rates rather than a single one, the tribunal's president indicated in a statement today.
Home-based workers will be able to negotiate their preferred hours and breaks under COVID-19-related award flexibilities likely to be approved by the FWC this week.
The underpayment of migrant workers significantly worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a large Unions NSW audit revealing 88% of a sample of foreign language job ads in the state offered below award wages.
FWC President Iain Ross has agreed to consider IR Minister Christian Porter's request that he insert loaded rates into awards for "distressed" industries and will convene initial conferences next week.