The Productivity Commission's push for Fair Work Commission members to be appointed for five year terms and to include more non-lawyers is based on a "grave misunderstanding" of the Commission's functions and jurisdiction and will affect the "standing of the body", according to recently retired Senior Deputy President Alan Boulton AO.
With the penalty rates review set to kick off next week, Justice Iain Ross today released a statement containing objections from both unions and employer groups to certain lay and expert evidence in the hospitality sector.
The Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal has today handed down its first major ruling on payments, which proposes to set minimum pay rates for truck drivers distributing goods for the major retail chains and in long distance work.
A FWC full bench today agreed to include accident make-up pay in a number of modern awards as part of its four-yearly review and will provide employers with a seven-day window to make submissions on union proposals for an entitlement of up to 104 weeks of make-up pay.
Awards should be limited to one per industry, with the FWC establishing a "new definition for unsociable hours" for each of them and determining "economy-wide" penalty rates, Business Council chief executive Jennifer Westacott has told a Sydney University gathering.
A former abattoir worker, who received unpaid entitlements only after FWO intervention, can also seek damages for negligence after a High Court ruling today, but the NSW Court of Appeal will now need to establish who employed him.
The employer push for lower penalty rates in the Fair Work Commission includes expert evidence that most weekend workers have no problem or only minor problems with performing their duties on Saturdays and Sundays.
