Support among workers for performing their duties from home, compressing their hours and job sharing has increased dramatically during COVID-19, according to university research commissioned by the FWC as it considers inserting a WFH clause in the clerical award.
The Federal Court has held that a deal struck outside of an enterprise agreement cannot alter the FWC's jurisdiction to arbitrate, and nor do workers need to re-start dispute processes when a new agreement is approved.
The FWC has found the MUA should have followed the NSW chief medical officer's advice to return to the docks after OHS representatives issued a "cease work" order in response to wharfies contracting COVID-19 in the early stages of the pandemic.
An FWC bench led by President Iain Ross "made no attempt" to analyse how model and agreement redundancy terms would operate in conjunction when assessing whether 21 seafarers had been fairly dismissed, a full Federal Court has found.
The FWC has rejected an "incompetent" bid by a company's employment services provider to vary an agreement that does not list it as the employer, questioning whether the deal was validly made in the first place.
Working from home is here to stay and will be "more effective for all" if it is supported by formal policies, hours are "relatively fixed hours" and it is voluntary, according to one of two university studies commissioned by the FWC as it considers inserting a WFH clause in the clerks award.
An FWC full bench has decided to abolish junior rates in the Retail Award for all but the lowest three classification levels, with any submissions to be filed by next Tuesday opposing its provisional view that the variation should start in February.
In a decision underlining the perils faced by workers who are not covered by awards or enterprise agreements, the FWC has found an employer had no statutory obligation to consult an employee about its plans to make him redundant.
The Federal Court has penalised the CFMMEU and three construction division WA branch officials $180,000 for organising a half-day strike in 2018 over redundancy pay for Perth Airport rail link workers, 39 of whom also copped $4000 fines.
RBA's modest wage growth hopes; Case to test employers' vaccination policies; Clerks award flexibilities extended until March; and Grace retains Palaszczuk Government's IR portfolio.
