Retailer Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd has admitted its treatment of pregnant employees breached the National Employment Standards, after an investigation by the Fair Work Ombudsman.
Employers will have to report annually on "tangible" gender-based pay results rather than "good intentions" to a reinvigorated workplace equal opportunity agency if they want to tender for federal government work, the Minister for the Status of Women, Kate Ellis, announced today.
In an important Independent Contracts Act ruling, the Federal Court has found that a restraint clause in a contract between a labour hire company and Woolworths rendered unfair a separate contract between the labour hire company and an IT worker it placed with the retailer.
A national transport company has been ordered to pay $25,000 to an employee after it responded to her request for modified duties while pregnant by unilaterally changing her role and cutting her pay by $18,000.
Growth in private sector pay rates excluding bonuses has accelerated to 3.8% a year in trend terms, according to the ABS, as wage rates recover from post-GFC lows.
In a decision sure to be appealed, Fair Work Australia has confirmed that unions facing an employer that refuses to bargain don’t have to seek a majority support order or jump other hurdles before asking members to authorise industrial action.
In a ruling that underlines the need for clear definitions of workplace behaviours that warrant dismissal or disciplinary action, FWA has compensated a childcare worker who was sacked for breaching a "no back biting" policy.
In an important ruling on the rights of employers to monitor and enforce their IT usage policies, the Federal Court has upheld the sacking of a senior public sector executive for viewing pornography on a work laptop while at home.
The question of what constitutes exceptional circumstances to warrant accepting a late unfair dismissal or general protections claim remains unsettled, with the issue yesterday dividing a full bench.
Collective agreement coverage increased significantly while the proportion of workers under awards and individual agreements declined in the two years to mid-2010, according to new ABS data, while IR academic David Peetz has renewed his call for the Bureau to start collecting separate information on non-union agreements, due to their rising importance after the demise of AWAs.
